Rains leave Mumbai in a muddle of water

The heavy rainfall experienced in Mumbai on Friday led to severe water logging in several parts of the city, including Hindmata, Sion, King’s Circle and Parel TT. The water logging went up to as high as 1.5 feet in some areas. The city experienced heavy rainfall between 8 am and 1 pm Friday, and most of these areas were heavily water logged for over two hours after 9 am. This significantly affected traffic in the city, inconveniencing commuters on the morning of a working day.

The Santa Cruz weather forecast station recorded an average of 123 mm of rainfall on Friday, even as the Colaba station recorded as little as 21 mm of rainfall. Areas of Hindmata, Sion and King’s Circle experienced water logging of up to 10 inches for over two hours. However, the areas around Parel TT experienced water logging of about one feet to 1.5 feet.

The BMC began to operate 203 pumps in the water logged areas. The five pumping stations including Haji Ali, Cleveland, Britannia, Irla, and Lovegrove were also functioning.

The civic body has attributed the flooding to a high tide at 2 pm, ranging about 4.47 meters.

Additional municipal commissioner Sanjay Deshmukh said, “We managed to clear the water in a matter of two hours in the areas around Hindmata, which was an impossible feat when the Britannia pumping station was not functional two years ago.”

While several bus routes had to be changed, including the route at Hindmata Cinema, the BPT Colony road, Sion Road number 24, King’s Circle, and Natimal College at Bandra, the railway traffic took a complete hit.

The railways had to cancel all trains on the Central line, running up and down between Thane and CST during Friday morning.