Season's 1st robust rain shower causes Mumbai to drown under infra collapse

MUMBAI: The first heavy downpour of this monsoon season jammed the wheels of the city on the first day of the working week.
A spell of intense rainfall occurred between 2.30am and 5.30am Monday even as IMD's Santacruz observatory recorded 268mm rain in a 24-hour period, the second highest July day rainfall in a decade. Some areas received more than 300mm of rainfall, a third of the catastrophic downpour that had flooded Mumbai on July 26, 2005.On Monday evening, IMD upgraded its weather warning till 8.30am Tuesday to a 'red' alert.
BMC, as well as neighbouring civic corporations in MMR, announced that schools and colleges will remain shut on Tuesday too.
Traffic was thrown off gear as roads were inundated. Trains on Central Railway came to a crawl along waterlogged tracks, flights cancelled or diverted, and a handful of rain-driven accidents tarnished the authorities' claims of monsoon preparedness. One silver lining to the dark rain clouds was a 4% increase in total water stocks in lakes. Powai lake, although not among those that supply potable water to the city, was the first to overflow at 4.45am.

Chief minister Eknath Shinde took stock of the situation by chairing a meeting at Mantralaya and visiting the BMC disaster control room. Legislative assembly speaker Rahul Narwekar adjourned the House, first till 1pm, then the rest of the day since there was no quorum. He informed the House that many ministers could not reach the assembly and many officials working in the legislature had failed to arrive as train services were disrupted. Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis said BMC and police were "working together".
Mantralaya allowed its staff to leave early as did other offices and establishments. Civic and private schools and colleges were forced to call a holiday or close early, while Mumbai University postponed exams of the Centre of Distance and Open Learning. A school in Kandivli asked parents to pick up their wards earlier.
Jamnabai Narsee and Mithibai declared a holiday. Ramnarain Ruia College "rescheduled and conducted online classes", said principal Anushree Lokur. National College principal Neha Jagtiani also reported disruption.
Elsewhere too, the city came apart at the seams. A viral video showed a senior citizen from Borivli complaining of his leg getting trapped in an open manhole at Saibaba Nagar. He said passersby managed to rescue him, but he had hurt his knee badly.
Chronic waterlogging hotspots quickly regained their infamy on Monday. Hindmata Dadar, Sion, Gandhi Market, Kurla, Bhandup, Chembur, Andheri and Malad went under. Malad and Andheri subways got flooded and were closed too.
A mudslide displaced residents of a colony near Nehru Nagar in Vile Parle, while a minor landslide befell Vikhroli Parksite. A total of 79 incidents of tree- and branch-fall were reported to BMC. Cases of wall and house collapse numbered 11 and as many incidents of short-circuit were recorded. The protective wall of South Avenue drain at Khar Gazdharbandh collapsed and the ground became unstable. As a result, many houses were in a dangerous condition, forcing families to move out of their homes.
Traffic police rescued a stranded couple from a car dangerously submerged in Sainath subway at Malad. Four youngsters in another vehicle stuck at the site got out safely. Traffic snarls occurred at Eastern Express Highway as well as other locations owing to waterlogging and broken-down vehicles.
BEST spokesman Sunil Vaidya said 23 buses broke down and were towed away while 40 were diverted or routes curtailed due to waterlogging. Aggregator cabs had surged prices and shortage was rampant. MSRTC provided special buses to people stranded on the disrupted Harbour line. Power outages occurred in Andheri, Chembur, Chunabhatti, Sion, Bhandup, Mulund.
Heavy rains and low visibility hit flight operations at Mumbai airport with 26 arrivals and 24 departures cancelled. Runway closure forced 27 arrivals to divert to neighbouring Ahmedabad, Hyderabad and Indore.
Navi Mumbai was drenched too, but suffered no major mishap. Thane recorded a staggering 134mm rainfall, forcing 10 families to evacuate their homes in two separate cases of landslide. TMC has cautioned residents of erratic water supply over three days. In Kalyan, two women were hurt in a slab collapse in Rambaug.
More than 30 animals, birds and reptiles - including pythons, rat snakes, cobras, bats, squirrels and mongoose - who were lost or displaced were rescued in Mumbai, Thane, Raigad and Palghar, said a forest official.
BMC to deploy backup pumps across the city
After one of the two pumps deployed by the civic body at Chunnabhatti malfunctioned, and 3 pumps set up by railway authorities on their premises were not flushing out enough water, leading to waterlogged roads and tracks, BMC has decided to deploy additional vehicle-mounted pumps as backup across the city.
Although BMC has deployed 481 pumps in the city, only those which were needed were operationalised. “One of the reasons for the Chunnabhatti waterlogging was the location of the pipe laid for draining water. Rainwater also entered a housing society,” said a BMC official. “All major nullahs in the city were almost full, but none of them were overflowing.”