Rains lash Mumbai, Thane

Heavy rains coupled with strong winds on Wednesday lashed the city and its suburbs, disrupting air and rail traffic and leading to water logging in many areas, reported the Times of India (TOI).

The city received 60.77 mm rainfall since Tuesday. Colaba in south Mumbai received 78.6 mm and suburban Santacruz received 95.0 mm, the MET department said.

TOI reported that train services on the Western line were running late by 10-15 minutes whereas on the Central line, trains were delayed by 15-20 minutes. Airline sources said there was an average delay of one-and-a-half to two hours in flight operations due to heavy rains.

However, the Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL) spokesperson said, “There is an average delay of half-an-hour to 40 minutes across flights.”

ater logging was reported at Dadar in central Mumbai, Cadbury Junction, Hind Mata and other areas, civic officials said.

According to TOI, Heavy rainfall is expected to continue in the city with strong gusty winds and thundershowers in parts of the city and suburbs, the weatherman said.

“Any tide above 4.5 metres is coupled with heavy rains and is a matter of concern,” joint municipal commissioner S S Shinde said.

“We appeal to Mumbaikars not to venture into the sea and stay away from the coastline area as a high tide has been predicted today,” Shinde said.

The civic body had earlier said that the city would witness high tides measuring about 4.70 metres till June 17, reported TOI

8 killed as wall collapses

According to TOI, eight people were crushed to death in their sleep when a wall collapsed in Mumbai’s Thane area early on Wednesday, police said.

The incident took place around 4:30am when the boundary wall of Dosti Constructions in the Vartak Nagar suburb of Dyaneshwar Nagar area in Thane suddenly collapsed on the hutments adjacent to the wall, trapping the people who were fast asleep.

Relief operations were underway by the police and fire brigade officials to rescue the people trapped in the debris.

As per preliminary information, the wall is believed to have collapsed owing to heavy rains lashing Mumbai in the past two days. According to TOI, there have been 40 rain-related deaths across the state in the past one week.

Published in the Express Tribune, June 17^th, 2010.