Mumbai rains: No respite from heavy showers till 8 July; IMD says floods, landslides possible

Mumbai: Heavy rains, water-logging have once again thrown life in Mumbai out of gear. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Tuesday said that heavy downpour will prevail in Mumbai till 8 July. Also, possibility of floods in ghat areas and landslides in areas that have loose soil have been predicted by the weather department. “Expect Maharashtra to get widespread rainfall in next five days. Heavy to very rainfall in scattered areas. Ghat areas also expected to get good rains. In Mumbai, 5, 7 and 8 July will see heavy rainfall. Red alert for Ratnagiri and Raigad,” IMD official Jayant Sarkar told news agency ANI. He further said, “Inundation is possible in areas that will see heavy to very heavy rainfall. Floods are possible in ghat areas and landslides in areas that have loose soil. Traffic woes may also rise. We have to be careful.” Heavy showers in Mumbai and adjoining areas today have resulted in water-logging at several places including railway tracks. Local trains, which are considered to be the lifeline of the metro city, were running late as the tracks were submerged in water. Also, traffic in most places left people stranded on road for long hours. The southern part of Mumbai received an average 95.81 mm rainfall in the 24 hour period ending at 8 am Tuesday, while the eastern and western suburbs recorded 115.09 mm and 116.73 mm rainfall, respectively, during the same period. News agency PTI mentioned Mumbai’s civic body, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) officials saying that between 8 am and 11:30 am on Tuesday, the island city received an average 41 mm rainfall, while the eastern and western suburbs got 85 mm and 55 mm showers. The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) has deployed its two teams in Kolhapur, Mumbai after a yellow alert of heavy rains in the ghat areas was issued today. On Tuesday morning, an incident of a landslide was reported in Ghatkopar, Panchsheel Nagar. A house was badly damaged where a landslide was reported in Ghatkopar. On Monday, a 16-feet long security wall in the Mumbra area collapsed due to heavy rain showers in Thane. After the incident, 17 families from the Anil Bhagat Chawl were temporarily shifted to the Thane Municipal Corporation school. In another incident reported from Thane district, boulders fell from a hillock in Hanuman Nagar area of Kalyan town. Also, a mid-house collapsed at Gavtepada in Wada taluka in Palghar following the heavy showers. No report of any casualty was report in the incidents. The BMC has informed that there is a possibility of high tide of 4.01 metres in Mumbai around 4:10 pm today. Don’t Miss:  Heavy rain puts Mumbai on yellow alert: Water-logged roads bring traffic to a standstill; landslide hits Ghatkopar Due to the incessant heavy rains and subsequent water-logging in Mumbai, BEST buses were diverted and the BMC has been updating the diversion routes on its Twitter handle - @mybmc Heavy rains also continue to create havoc in popular hill station Mahabaleshwar and neighbouring areas of western Maharashtra and the Konkan region over the last 24 hours. The water level of the Koyna dam has been steadily rising. Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde on Tuesday morning held a meeting with Chief Secretary Manukumar Srivastava and reviewed the preparedness of the state that has been witnessing non-stop rains. The chief minister directed all the district guardian secretaries to monitor the situation and keep NDRF teams on standby, a statement issued by the Chief Minister’s Office stated. With inputs from agencies Read all the Latest News , Trending News ,  Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.