Mumbai: A sudden torrential downpour killed at least four people on Wednesday; Mumbai prepared for further rain on Thursday, with authorities closing schools and institutions as a precaution.
Yesterday’s unexpected rainfall, which caught lakhs of Mumbai residents off guard, claimed three lives, including Vimal A. Gaikwad, a 45-year-old lady who drowned in an open drain in Andheri East MIDC.
Another woman drowned near the Zenith Waterfalls in Raigad’s Khopoli district, while two people were struck by lightning in Varap village, Kalyan, Thane.
The pounding rain caused floods in vast portions of Mumbai, Thane, and Pune, stranding millions of commuters going home during the evening peak hours and causing widespread pandemonium.
One such regular commuter, businessman Sandeep Viswambhar, who was driving from Taloja to Powai, got caught in traffic snarls en route and took almost 4 to 5 hours for a commute that usually takes barely an hour.
Stock market consultant Rajesh Shah said he somehow negotiated through waterlogged roads and massive traffic jams to reach home after five hours from Sion to Borivali, which he usually covers in an hour.
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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 until 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 has been placed under an Orange alert for the day.
In a positive fallout, the freshwater lakes supplying drinking water to Mumbai are now 99.18 percent full, close to touching last year’s level of 99.27 percent.
Civic officials said the city will look forward to a year without water-cut hassles, with 14,35,524 million litres (2024) available in stocks—compared with 14,36,788 million litres (2023).
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–IANS
