People Shifted to Safer Places, NDRF Deployed as Heavy Rains Lash Mumbai & Adjoining Areas | 10 Points

Heavy rains continued to batter Mumbai and its adjoining areas on Tuesday which led to waterlogging at various places including railway tracks and also increased the water level of some rivers rapidly. Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has directed government officials to give utmost priority to preventing the loss of lives in rain-related incidents and appealed to citizens living in the dangerous buildings to co-operate with the civic officials.

The state has been witnessing heavy rains since Monday that slowed down the movement of trains and vehicles on roads due to waterlogging at a number of places.

Here are the top 10 points related to the rain situation in Mumbai and its adjoining areas:

1. The CM reviewed the rainfall situation today during a visit to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) disaster control room and said over 3,500 people had been shifted to safer places from flood-prone and vulnerable spots across the state. Teams of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) have been deployed wherever required and more personnel will be sent if needed, he said.
2. Shinde spoke to the collectors of Raigad, Ratnagiri, and some other districts for which the India Meteorological Department (IMD) had issued ‘red’ and ‘orange’ alerts predicting very heavy to extremely heavy rainfall.
3. Shinde has asked Mumbai municipal commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal to deploy a ward officer for supervision, arrange extra BEST (civic) and state transport buses to ferry stranded passengers, and provide them tea and snacks.
4. Powai Lake in Mumbai began overflowing amid heavy rains, a civic official said, adding that the lake has a storage capacity of 545 crore litres and started overflowing at 6:15 pm.
5. The Kundalika River in Raigad district has crossed the danger mark, as per an official statement and the water level of Amba, Savitri, Patalganga, Ulhas and Gadhi rivers was hovering just near the danger mark.
6. Normal life was adversely affected in the metropolis and no immediate respite was in sight as moderate to heavy rain in Mumbai and its suburbs is predicted by the IMD for over the next 24 hours. The IMD has issued an ‘orange alert’ for the south Konkan region and Goa and a ‘yellow alert’ for north Konkan, north-central and south-central Maharashtra and Marathwada regions.
7. The BMC said south Mumbai received an average 95.81 mm rainfall in the 24-hour period ended at 8 am, while the eastern and western suburbs recorded 115.09 mm and 116.73 mm rainfall, respectively, during the same period. Between 8 am and 11.30 am, the island city (south Mumbai) received an average 41 mm rainfall, while the eastern and western suburbs got 85 mm and 55 mm showers, respectively.
8. Boulders fell from a hillock in Thane and a house collapsed in neighbouring Palghar following heavy rains, officials said. However, there was no report of any casualty so far in the twin incidents, they said.
9. Four arterial subways in the north-west part of Mumbai had to be closed for traffic. These subways, namely Golibar, Milan, Andheri and Malad connect the east and west stretches of the north-western suburbs, which are otherwise divided by Western Railway tracks.
10. Traffic police personnel were deployed at various locations to avoid vehicular congestion due to the heavy rains. Citizens also complained of water-logging at the Gandhi Market, and areas in Kurla and Dharavi, resulting in problems for motorists and pedestrians.

(with inputs from PTI)

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