The kind of hard rain that hammers the city and its suburbs came in on Wednesday, making for a tough commute and putting water in low-lying areas. You had to have the alerts put out. There was a small landslide at Malshej Ghat that had people on edge, but they were quick to clear it and the Thane-Pune route is open. With waterlogging in Mumbai and Navi Mumbai, you’ll be hearing from officials to be careful as some sterner weather is in the offing.
For today, the India Meteorological Department has put Mumbai, the suburbs and Palghar on a red alert; Thane is on orange. The Andheri subway is closed because of the floodwaters and civic workers are there to make sure no one tries to drive in.
What you need to know now
Here is the word from the agencies on the ground:
– Red alert for Mumbai, its suburbs and Palghar
– Thane is on orange; IMD is warning of some heavy spells
– Andheri is out of commission, the rest of the subways are fine
– Suburban trains are on schedule, per Western Railway
– Malshej Ghat: no one was hurt, traffic is moving
– Nothing being let out of the Bhatsa Dam yet
Malshej Ghat: a minor slide, and then it was over with
Some earth gave way on the Malshej Ghat between 6 and 7 pm on Tuesday, district men will tell you. It was between the wash and umbrella points. They put in some machinery right away and had the debris out of the way. No one was hurt in the process.
It didn’t put a dent in traffic. They moved fast on this key road and kept things going even with the rain coming down around the region.
Trees down in Thane; an eye on the dam
The Regional Disaster Management Cell has 27 complaints in the last day from Thane, 18 of them for trees or limbs. A couple of cars in Charai were written off when a tree came down on them on Wednesday, but no one was in them to get hurt.
If you look at the numbers, Thane has 77.97 mm to its name in the 24 hours up to 8:30 am on Wednesday, for a season total of 81.26 mm. RDMC figures say they were at 755.63 mm in the same stretch a year ago.
Over at the Bhatsa in Shahapur taluka, 20 mm has come in. The level is at 108.79 metres, which is 29.22% of what it can hold. We haven’t seen any water let go from the dam, they say.
Services are holding up; more to come
Western Railway says the Harbour Line and the Churchgate-Dahanu run were normal on Wednesday despite the downpour. All the subways are open bar for Andheri, the city has confirmed.
BMC has the books on June 23: 56 mm in the city from 8 to 11. The eastern side of town got 23 mm, the west 33.
Some pockets of trouble after dark
There were some hard hits in the western suburbs late on Tuesday – Kandivali, Malad, Juhu, Santacruz and around. You had to deal with water in the streets in parts of Mumbai and Navi Mumbai, which made for a slower ride at peak times.
They are watching it. More is due along the coast of Maharashtra in the days ahead. For now, it’s about the underpasses, the headway on the trains, and being on it when a tree or a flood calls for it.
