Heavy overnight rains lashed Mumbai and districts in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, seriously disrupting road and rail traffic. Owing to heavy rainfall and heavy traffic snarls, Eastern Freeway on Wednesday morning was shut for vehicular traffic.
On Wednesday morning, public transport services were hit and normal life was affected in the financial capital due to heavy downpour and waterlogging. Several streets and low-lying areas were waterlogged due to overnight rains and the road traffic was also badly hit, a civic official said. Some vehicles broke down in the water, affecting the traffic movement.
Mumbai's municipal commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal has asked that all offices and establishments in the city, barring essential services, be shut on Wednesday due to the downpour and IMD's forecast of "heavy to very heavy rains" in the city. A Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) release said Chahal has also appealed Mumbaikars not to step out of their homes, unless it is an emergency.
Heavy water-logging was reported from the traditional flood-prone areas of central Mumbai like Sion, Matunga, Kurla, Chunabhatti, Mazagaon, Masjid Bunder, and Byculla. Besides several areas in the suburbs like Goregaon, Malad, Dahisar, Kurla, Ghatkopar, Mulund experienced waterlogging.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) had issued an orange alert with a forecast of heavy rainfall at some places in Mumbai and Thane during the day. According to K S Hosalikar, deputy director general of IMD, 122.2 mm rain was recorded at Colaba and 273.6 mm at Santacruz till 5.30 am.
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