Met dept has predicted heavy rains with gusty winds in the next 24 hours. |
Monsoon rains have thrown life out of gear in India's financial capital for the second year in succession. |
The city, which aspires to rival Shanghai, almost ground to a halt as its 150-year-old drainage system failed to tackle the downpour, which had touched 162.5 mm at 2.30 pm today. |
The meteorology department has ominously forecast heavy rains with gusty winds in the next 24 hours. |
Continuing for the fourth day, the rains disrupted air, road, and rail traffic severely and attendance in offices remained thin. Educational institutions remained shut for the second day in succession. Seven rain-related deaths have been reported so far. |
All in-coming flights were diverted in the post-noon session, while outgoing flights were operating behind schedule due to poor visibility and flooding of the runway. |
Local train services on the Central and Harbour Lines were paralysed due to water-logging, said railway officials. Trains on the Western Line were running late by 20-25 minutes. |
The Multi Commodity Exchange closed down at 11.45 am. The turnover at the Bombay Stock Exchange was poor. Most offices decided to shut shop, or asked employees to leave early. |
Some press conferences scheduled over the week "" including Flag Telecom's scheduled for today "" have been cancelled. Emergency workers used sticks and crowbars to prise open clogged manholes and gutters, and allow rain water to pass. |
Mumbai Police Commissioner A N Roy told residents to stay put wherever they were until the situation improved. He asked South Mumbai residents not to go to the suburbs unless absolutely necessary. |
Last July, two days of heavy rains exposed Mumbai's poor infrastructure and dismal emergency response. The consequent floods killed hundreds of people in and around Mumbai, and shut down the metropolis for almost a week. |
Today's rains also affected movement of long-distance trains of Western and Central railway, with a large number of them stranded at various stations, causing inconvenience to scores of passengers at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, Mumbai Central, and Lokmanya Tilak Terminus at Kurla. |