Three persons, including two minors, were on Tuesday killed in two house collapse incidents in suburban Vikroli in the wake of torrential rains that lashed the megapolis, police said.
In the first incident in the hilly Suryanagar area, a house at a higher level collapsed on one below, trapping a one-and-a-half-year-old infant, Nikhil, 40-year-old Suresh Arjun Prasad Mourya and Kiran Baby Pal (25), a senior police official said.
They were taken to a nearby civic hospital where Nikhil and Mourya were declared dead before admission, the official said.
At Varshanagar hill area of Vikroli Parksite, a protective wall collapsed on a house, killing two-year-old Kalyani Jangam on the spot, he said. Her parents Gopal Jangam (36) and Chhaya Jangam (30) suffered injuries.
They have been admitted to a hospital, the official said.
10 teams of NDRF have been deployed as the incessant rains are expected to continue for the next 24 hours.
Schools, colleges to remain shut today
Schools and colleges will remain closed today in view of the MeT department forecasting heavy rains in the metropolis.
After taking stock of the situation, Maharashtra Education Minister Vinod Tawde instructed the colleges and schools to remain shut on Wednesday.
"With today's heavy downpour and predictions for heavier rainfall; schools, college authorities instructed to remained closed tomorrow," Tawde tweeted late on Tuesday evening.
According to a senior official, it is a precautionary measure taken by the state government and once the IMD issued its forecast, the government declared half day working for its employees yesterday.
Rail, road, air services disrupted
Heavy downpour accompanied by strong winds pummelled the economic capital, disrupting rail, road and air services, uprooting trees, swamping homes, and brining the megapolis and satellite towns to their knees.
Thousands of vehicles were stranded on arterial roads in Lower Parel, Dadar, Kurla, Andheri, Khar West, Ghatkopar, Sion and Hindmata areas that were under knee to waist deep water for several hours, many having broken down.
Suburban rail services, the lifeline of the metropolis, were thrown out of gear.
Train services on all three suburban railway lines – Central, Western and Harbour lines – have been paralysed.
The situation left the airport in the financial capital almost crippled with long delays, forcing airlines to divert many flights to other cities or making aircraft to do go-arounds through the day.
Till Tuesday evening, the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport saw six flight cancellations, 10 go-arounds and as many diversions.
CM Fadnavis urges people to stay indoors today
With the India Meteorological Department (IMD) forecasting an "extremely heavy rainfall" in the next 24 to 48 hours, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday urged the people to stay indoors.
He added that only those government employees, who handled critical departments and essential services, would be on duty on Wednesday.
"In the wake of the warnings issued by the IMD, those in Mumbai and surrounding areas are advised to stay home, unless there is an emergency," Fadnavis said.
According to the MeT forecast, the Mumbai region, Southern Gujarat, North-Central Maharashtra and Goa may receive a heavy rainfall over the next 48 hours.
The IMD said the low pressure over these regions might be upgraded to a "depression", which would mean more rainfall.
The western coast of Maharashtra, including Mumbai, may receive up to 250 mm of rainfall in the next 48 hours.
Suburban train services limping back to normal
Rain-hit suburban train services in Mumbai are slowly limping back to normalcy with the first train chugging out of the Churchgate station around midnight.
Traffic on the Western Railway suburban network had come to a grinding halt earlier on Tuesday due to torrential downpour.
The first train left Churchgate in south Mumbai for Virar at 2358 hrs, the Western Railway tweeted.
"Evacuation of all stranded passengers is priority and trains will be run throughout the night, if required," it said.
Mumbai's suburban train network, which carries over 65 lakh passengers a day, is the lifeline of the financial capital and halting of the services had led to inconvenience to many office-goers who had braved the heavy rains to make it to their offices.
There was, however, no clarity over the fate of the trains of the Central Railway, which originates from the Chhtrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus.
The CR tweeted around 11:30 pm that services on the Thane-Kalyan line, which is a section on the main line, had resumed.
Highest August day rain since 1997
The metropolis recorded 298 mm of rainfall, the highest in a day in August since 1997, according to data from the India Meteorological Department.
The Santacruz weather station gauged a whopping 298 mm of precipitation. This was second only to 346.2 mm of rainfall registered on August 23, 1997, the data showed.
The IMD's Mumbai unit has data on rainfall since 1974.
The figures recorded at the Santacruz weather station in the suburbs represent the overall figure for Mumbai. The department also has a station in Colaba, which is representative of south Mumbai.
"Today's rainfall was extremely heavy. Rains are likely to be heavy tomorrow as well and may abate by late afternoon.
"We are closely watching the rainfall and its pattern. People are surprised as heavy rainfall in Mumbai is generally witnessed during June and July," Ajay Kumar, director, Regional Meteorological Centre, Mumbai, told PTI.
The IMD said the well-marked low-pressure area over the Mumbai region is likely to be upgraded to "depression", which would mean more rains.
