Mumbai braces for more rain today, schools-colleges shut; 4 killed so far

Mumbai, Sep 26 (IANS) After the torrential downpour claimed at least four lives, Mumbai braced for more rains on Thursday with the authorities declaring schools-colleges shut as a precautionary measure.

Wednesday's sudden downpour, which caught lakhs of Mumbaikars hurrying home totally by surprise, saw three casualties, including a 45-year-old woman, Vimal A. Gaikwad, who drowned in an open drain in Andheri east MIDC area.

Another woman drowned near the Zenith Waterfalls in the Khopoli area of Raigad and two persons were killed in a lightning strike at Varap village in Kalyan town of Thane.

The downpour led to flooding in large parts of Mumbai, Thane, Pune and stranded lakhs of commuters rushing home in the evening peak hours, leading to huge chaos.

One such regular commuter, businessman Sandeep Viswambhar, who was driving from Taloja to Powai got stuck in traffic snarls en route and took almost 4-5 hours for a commute that normally takes barely an hour.

Stock market consultant Rajesh Shah said he somehow negotiated through waterlogged roads and huge traffic jams to reach home after five hours from Sion to Borivali, which he normally covers in an hour.

Some parts of eastern Mumbai were pounded with heavy rain - Mankhurd 275 mm rains, Powai, 260 mm, Vikhroli, 230 mm, and many other areas notching over 150 mm and more than 200 mm till this morning.

For the past 24 hours till Thursday (08.00 am this morning), the BMC said the rainfall recorded in the country’s commercial capital was: Mumbai City – 117.18 mm; Eastern Suburbs 170.58 mm; and Western Suburbs – 108.75 mm.

After the chaos and confusion last evening, the flood waters started receding this morning though Mumbai is placed under an Orange alert for the day.

In a positive fallout, the freshwater lakes supplying drinking water to Mumbai are now 99.18 per cent full, close to touching last year’s level of 99.27 per cent.

With 14,35,524 million litres (2024) available in stocks - compared with 14,36,788 million litres (2023) - the city will look forward to a year free of water-cut hassles, civic officials said.