Mumbai, July 04: Normal life was on Tuesday thrown out of gear as incessant heavy monsoon rains lashed the country's commercial capital for the fourth consecutive day disrupting air, road and rail traffic and seven persons were
killed in rain-related incidents.
Three persons died of electrocution at Kurar village in
North Mumbai while three others drowned in a well in the
northwestern part of the city, police said.
One person died when the tree under which he had taken
shelter from rain in Northeast Mumbai collapsed, police said.
Schools remained closed
Schools in Mumbai remained closed for the second day
today and will remain so tomorrow also as a precautionary
measure, Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh told reporters after
chairing a meeting of the disaster management cell.
40 domestic flights cancelled
As heavy rains brought down visibility at Mumbai
Airport, about 40 domestic flights were cancelled while many
others were diverted, airport sources said.
"More than 40 flights have been cancelled while another
10 have been diverted to some other destinations. All incoming
flights have been diverted since noon," airport sources said.
Jet Airways has cancelled 25 flights today while Air
Deccan cancelled 15 incoming and outgoing flights from the
Chhatrapati Shivaji International Terminal here.
Indian has not cancelled any flights, but there is a
delay of 45 to one hour for all incoming and outgoing
operations, the Airline spokesperson said.
Airport Director R J Treasurywala said
that the functioning of the airport was "more or less normal
despite some delays".
When asked about the many cancellations, he said it was
up to individual airlines and pilots to take a decision
whether to land and take off aircraft from the airport.
Train services affected
Suburban train services came to a grinding halt with
flooding of railway tracks on Central and Western Railway,
officials said.
Several long-distance trains of western and central
railway were stranded at various stations causing
inconvenience to hundreds of passengers at Chhatrapati Shivaji
Terminus, Mumbai Central and Lokmanya Tilak Terminus at Kurla.
Thin attendance in office
With the public transport system in doldrums, there was
also a thin attendance in offices in South Mumbai. A large
number of people preferred to stay back home.
Heavy rains caused severe water-logging in areas like
Bandra Band Stand, Bandra Chowpatty, Kurla, Central Mumbai
areas like Parel, Kalachowkie, Dadar TT, suburban Ghatkopar,
Kurla, Sion and Matunga in Central Mumbai.
Prominent subways like the Milan, Juhu, Dahisar subways
were also flooded and civic authorities put rescue boats to
use to ferry people in distress.
In some places, civic authorities provided life vests to
help people move out of inundated areas to safer places.
Meanwhile, the Powai Lake in North-West Mumbai started
overflowing, spilling surplus water in the adjoining
residential areas, sources said.
Thousands of people were moved to safer places from
landslides-prone and water-logged low-lying areas.
Elsewhere in the state, a 17-year old milk vendor was
washed away in gushing waters in Seon village at Gadchiroli
district in Vidarbha region today, police said.
Met Dept forecasts heavy rains
The rainfall recorded in the city till 2.30 pm was 162.5
mm, the Meterology Department said adding that heavy rains
with gusty winds are expected in the next 24 hours.
The IMD has issued a warning to fishermen not to venture
into the sea for the time being since the sea is expected to
be rough due to heavy rains.
Bureau Report