Several parts of Mumbai woke up to waterlogging and traffic on Thursday morning after receiving barely two hours of moderate rainfall between 9 am to 11. However, the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) officials stated that, by afternoon, water had receded.
India Meteorological Deparment's (IMD) Colaba observatory recorded 49.6 mm rainfall between 8.30 am to 5.30 pm on Thursday, while its Santacruz observatory recorded 47 mm rain during the same period.
Traffic snarls
Chronic spots, including Hindmata and TT Circle in Dadar, Gandhi Market in King’s Circle, Road Number 24 in Sion, Shanmukhananda Hall in Matunga, BPT colony in Antop Hill, SIES college in Mulund and Mankhurd railway station, were most affected. According to a senior BMC official, traffic was only diverted from King’s Circle and Road Number 24 in Sion. "Water receded in an hour. By afternoon, these areas were clear. We have managed to do that despite the pandemic," said a senior official from the civic body’s disaster management unit.
A traffic police official said that traffic police personnel were already deployed at several junctions in the city to steer clear the traffic and ensure smooth vehicular movement.
Water logged at King's Circle. | Bhushan Koyande
According to sources, there was a delay of at least 10 minutes on the Eastern Express Highway. The Western Express Highway saw a vehicular movement delay of 15 minutes due to heavy rain and waterlogging.
A senior traffic policeman, who requested anonymity said, "We are tending to every distress call for traffic due to waterlogging and sending a team to manage the situation. In addition to deployment, we are making appropriate traffic diversions to avoid vehicles breaking down due to waterlogging. This ensures there is no major backlog or subsequent stunting of vehicular movement."
A video and several photos of King’s Circle went viral on social media, showing a portion of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Road near the station flooded and obstructing vehicular movement. Both Sion and Matunga police stations, situated off the road, were waterlogged too.
Rajeshri Shirwadkar, corporator of King’s Circle, said, "Water receded within an hour. However, our area is low lying. Water from neighbouring areas gets accumulated near the two police stations due to heavy rainfall. Gandhi Market too gets flooded. This has been happening every year for the last two decades. BMC should expedite work on the Mahul pumping station, which will help in clearing water from King’s Circle and other chronic flooding spots in monsoon.”
In 24 hours, BMC's disaster management unit recorded 70 incidents of tree fall, which includes 29 in the city, 21 in eastern suburbs and 20 in western suburbs. Nine cases of short circuit were reported due to the rains and a total of six cases of house/wall collapse were reported across the city.
