Mumbai rains: Will local rail services be affected amid heavy showers, waterlogging in some districts?

Heavy rains continue to lash Mumbai for the third consecutive day, as the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has maintained its orange alert issued for Mumbai and red alert issued for Pune—till August 19.

Heavy rains are currently occurring in the western suburbs of Andheri, Jogeshwari, Goregaon, Malad, Kandivali, Borivali, Dahisar, Vile Parle, Santacruz, and Bandra. Low-lying regions within these districts have already seen some waterlogging, an ABP Majha report said.

Specifically, an orange alert remains in place for Mumbai, Thane, and Palghar, while a red alert stays for the ghat areas of Pune, Satara and Kolhapur. 

The incessant rains have also affected visibility, which, in turn, has increased traffic, and affected railway services.

Currently, the Central Railway is running 5-10 minutes late and the Harbour Railway is running 5 minutes late, but the Western Railway is running smoothly. Further delays are expected if the rain continues.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has attributed this to a well-marked low pressure area spanning "west central and the adjoining northwest Bay of Bengal & northern Andhra Pradesh, to the southern Odisha coasts".

The IMD has also predicted extremely heavy rainfall at isolated places over Konkan and Goa, as well as the ghat areas of central Maharashtra on August 18 and 19.

Strong surface winds at speeds reaching 40-50km/h have been observed, and are very likely to persist over the region till August 20.

Mumbai's dams are also approaching their limits, with rainfall filling them all up to 13 lakh million litres—about 90 per cent of their total capacity of 14.47 lakh million litres, the report said.