Thane: Man swept away after falling into swollen nullah in Kalwa

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A 45-year-old man was swept away in a swollen nullah after slipping into it at Kalwa in Thane city of Maharashtra, police told news agency PTI on Friday.

The incident occurred at 11.30 pm on Thursday, they said.

"The victim, identified as Ramesh Taki, was walking in Mahatma Phule Nagar locality when he accidentally fell into the swollen nullah and got swept away," an official of Kalwa police station told PTI.

A search operation was conducted by the personnel of the local fire brigade and the Thane civic body's Regional Disaster Management Cell (RDMC), but the victim could not be traced, he said.

Several nullahs in Thane were flooded due to incessant rains over the past few days.

RDMC chief Yasin Tadvi told PTI that Thane city recorded 166.31 mm rainfall in 24 hour ending 8.30 a.m on Friday.

The city's total rainfall so far this season is 2,247.29 mm, he said, adding that during the same period the rainfall last year was 1,443.97 mm.

Meanwhile, the authorities in neighbouring Palghar said the district received a total of 185.10 mm of average rainfall till 8 am in 24 hours.

After heavy rains in Mumbai and its suburbs over the past few days, the intensity of rainfall reduced on Friday with the city witnessing only occasional spells of moderate to heavy showers till noon.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has, however, predicted heavy to very heavy rainfall in the city during the day, officials said.

Incessant rains over the past few days raised the aggregate water stock in seven lakes providing potable water to Mumbai as it reached 68 per cent on Friday morning. Of these seven lakes, four have overflowed so far, they said.

As the intensity of rain reduced, no major water-logging was reported anywhere in the metropolis, the officials said.

Some commuters complained that traffic on the Eastern as well as Western expressways was moving slow, but there was no issue on the Eastern Freeway connecting Chembur to south Mumbai.

The city traffic police said there was congestion on the Sion-Panvel highway in the morning after a chemical tanker overturned at Uran Phata in Navi Mumbai.

The IMD has issued a yellow alert, predicting heavy to very heavy rainfall in the city and suburbs with the possibility of extremely heavy rainfall at isolated places. There could be occasional gusty winds reaching 40-50 kmph as per the weather bureau's prediction.

The island city, its eastern suburbs and western suburbs received average rainfall of 100.82 mm, 94.79 mm and 129.12 mm, respectively, in the 24 hours ending 8 am.

According to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), there was a 3.46 metre high tide in the Arabian Sea at 8.08 am and the next high tide is at 3.20 pm.

(With inputs from PTI)