Three people were injured after a landslide near a chawl in Mumbai on Wednesday, as the city continued to witness heavy rains for the third day in a row, with no respite to citizens as many low-lying areas were water-logged causing traffic disruptions, officials said.
An aggrieved citizen in a tweet said they now need a boat to commute, instead of a car.
A minor boy and two other persons were injured after a portion of a hill crashed on the two-storey Narayan Hadke Chawl (tenement) in Chunabhatti area around 10.30 am, a civic official said. Three rooms in the chawl were damaged due to the landslide. As a precaution, the civic body has evacuated residents from other adjoining rooms in the chawl, he said.
After being alerted, the fire brigade, police and civic ward officers rushed to the spot.
The three injured persons - Shubham Sonawane (15), Prakash Sonawane (40) and Surekha Virkar (20) - were immediately shifted to the nearby civic-run Sion Hospital, the official said, adding that their condition is stable.
The Central Railway and Western Railway officials said the local trains were operating normally, but some commuters claimed the suburban services were running a little late.
A spokesperson of the BEST Undertaking said their bus services were diverted on two dozen routes at six locations.
Mumbai is likely to witness another wet day as the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted moderate to heavy rain in the city and suburbs, with a possibility of extremely heavy rainfall at isolated places in the next 24 hours, according to civic officials.
In the 24-hour period ending at 8 am on Wednesday, the island city (south Mumbai) received an average 107 mm rainfall, while the eastern and western suburbs recorded 172 mm and 152 mm downpour, respectively, a civic official said. While lakes in the city were filling up because of the incessant rains, there was no end to woes of the general public as many low-lying places like Hindmata, and areas in Dadar and Sion, including the Gandhi Market and road number 24 in Sion, were inundated, forcing pedestrians to wade through the water and making it difficult for motorists to commute.
"Flooding in Sion, Matunga, Dadar. Need a boat instead of car to commute," a city resident tweeted. A Western Railway spokesperson said "trains are running normally" on their suburban network.
The Central Railway's chief public relations officer Shivaji Sutar said trains were running on all corridors.
Water-logging was reported near the Neelam Junction, Deonar, Mankhrud railway bridge, Everard Nagar, Antop Hill, Chembur, Dadar T T Junction, Hindmata junction, Sakkar Panchayat, Wadala, Kings Circle, Matunga, Kurla Kamani area and some other places, due to which traffic movement was slow, a police official said.
In view of the inundation at Dadar TT, traffic was diverted via Gokhale Road, he said. Water-logging was also reported near the Worli end of the Bandra-Worli Sea Link, due to which the south-bound traffic was moving slow, he said.
The Khar subway was also flooded, affecting the vehicular traffic, the official said. At the Mancherji Joshi Chowk junction in Matunga and near Asalpha bus stop in Ghatkopar, there was water-logging up to two feet and at the Crystal House area in Powai up to one feet, disrupting road traffic, he said.
Traffic police were deployed at various key locations to ensure smooth movement, he added. On Tuesday, heavy showers in Mumbai and its adjoining areas caused water-logging at a number of places, including railway tracks, which had led to train delays and affected vehicular movement on roads.
Chief Minister Eknath Shinde had on Tuesday directed state administration officials to take necessary precautions and ensure there was no loss of life or damage to property.
