Mumbai sinks again

Life in Mumbai was thrown out of gear on Tuesday during the wettest day the city experienced so far this monsoon.

The incessant showers, which caused road, rail and flight disruptions, began on Monday night. On Tuesday, the Met department reported 32.8 mm of rain in Colaba and 145.5 mm in Santa Cruz.

The eastern suburbs were the hard-hit, with the BMC reporting 104 mm of rain there. The western suburbs and island city had 66 mm and 31 mm. Though civic officials had earlier claimed that the city was ready to tackle rain of upto 350 mm at non-high-tide times, Tuesday's downpour flooded several areas and caused severe traffic jams. Central Railway, which serves the eastern suburbs, saw its main and harbour lines brought to a standstill for around three hours. A commuter who caught a train at Sion at 3.30 pm to reach Badlapur, was still stuck at Thane at 9.30 pm.

While there were traffic snarls, Mumbaikars also waded through waist-deep waters. Low-lying areas like King's Circle, Sion, Santa Cruz's Milan Subway, Linking Road and S V Road in Bandra-Khar, most of Kurla and Hindmata-Parel were inundated. The civic body had claimed to have completed many flood-mitigation measures, including widening and desilting the Mithi River, widening drains, clearing railway drains and so on. The Mithi River crossed the danger mark of 2.7 m and went as high as 3.1 m.

Mulund-based Reena Manish, who had to catch a flight to Dubai at 7 pm, managed to reach the airport only an hour in advance, as the roads around Powai and Goregaon were flooded. ''It took me three hours to reach the airport due to flooding,'' he said. Several schools and colleges across the city were either shut or sent students home early. Many office-goers chose to stay home. By evening, though water had receded, the roads were almost empty, with very few people venturing out