Seven dead as Mumbai relives 26/7 rain horror

***vengabeats***

Mumbai - Seven people were killed in separate rain-related incidents in this inundated city Tuesday after heavy showers that continued for the fourth straight day revived memories of last year’s catastrophic deluge.
Three people were electrocuted in Kurar village near the northwestern Goregaon suburb. Three others drowned in a well in the western past of the city, while one man died when a tree under which he had taken shelter collapsed in northeast Mumbai, police said.
Mumbai denizens are now staring at a rerun of last year’s 26/7 nightmare when the city had come to a grinding halt following an unrelenting downpour.
Already, the frenetic pace of the country’s financial capital has considerably slowed down with transportation services being thrown out of gear due to the near complete inundation of the city’s roads and railway tracks.
In the 24 hours to Tuesday evening, the Colaba Observatory recorded 121 mm of rain while the Santa Cruz observatory had recorded rainfall of 152 mm.
The situation was set to worsen in the next 48 hours as the weatherman predicted more rain brought by a windstorm over India’s eastern coast that was weakening and was heading west towards Maharashtra.
Even as suburban train services were disrupted, a number of commuter buses of the Bombay Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) undertaking continued to ply. Services like cable TV, ATMs and the Internet were affected, but mobile phones continued to work.
Power supply was erratic in most parts of the city.
Half submerged cars and two-wheelers, a grim reminder of last year’s July 26 floods that killed more than 400 people in the city, returned to haunt the megalopolis.
‘It took a long while to service my car (after last year’s floods) and look what has happened to it again this year,’ lamented Chetan Verma, a chartered accountant based in the northern Kandivli suburb.
However, no loss of life was reported from anywhere in the city, unlike Monday when five people died due to the flooding.
Schools and colleges were ordered to close and private companies also let off their employees early to avoid them having to face risky situations in returning home.
A state government advisory asked the people to stay indoors and venture out only if it was very urgent.
‘We thought we will get back home safe and sound and left office early. But how do I get home if there is no transport?’ asked Murli Devdas, a travel agency employee, who was heading for Kanjur Marg in central Mumbai from his workplace in downtown Churchgate.
Thousands of commuters were marooned in different parts of the city as suburban trains on both lines stopped plying by around 11 a.m.
Several long distance trains on the central line were either suspended or stranded at various stations as the tracks were under 3.5 inches of water, railway officials said.
No announcements were being made at many railway stations and the journey indicators went blank as stranded passengers waited without a clue as to when they would be able to get home.
However, t
he Kurla-Panvel and Dadar-Kalyan routes beginning from Central Mumbai were restored, though there was still no respite to people travelling from the southern parts of the city.
The western line was revived by afternoon, though trains were running 15-20 minutes behind schedule, as was also the case of several flights from Mumbai airport.
Scores of people could be seen wading through knee-deep water in various suburbs, the worst affected of which were low-lying areas like Santa Cruz, Bhandup and Vile Parle.
Reports of flooding were also received from Mahim, Bandra, Matunga, Dadar and Dahisar.

Source : Indian news

***vengabeats***

Mumbai, July. 4 (PTI): As heavy rains continued to lash the city for the fourth consecutive day throwing normal life out of gear, Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh today said authorities were geared up to tackle the situation.
Schools will remain closed tomorrow also as a precautionary measure, he announced.
Deshmukh who chaired a meeting of the Disaster Management Cell here today told reporters that all efforts were being made to ensure smooth flow of traffic and clear water-logging in various low-lying areas of the metropolis.
The meeting was attended by Mumbai Police Commissioner A N Roy, senior BMC and traffic officials.
Deshmukh said compared to last year, South Mumbai had received heavy rainfall during the last four days, resulting in water-logging in several low-lying areas.
Clearing water-logging would take some time as the present drainage system is an old one. The state government and the BMC has planned to modernise the system, he said.

Source : The Hindu news