4 killed as rains batter Mumbai on first day

Mumbai, June 28 (IANS) At least four persons, including a minor boy, were killed and two others injured in different incidents as monsoon made a grand entry in Mumbai and surroundings on Friday, hitting normal life with the usual woes of water-logging in many areas, delays in flights, road and train traffic.

In Goregaon suburb of north-west Mumbai, four persons of a family including a minor girl suffered electrocution from some live wires in the vicinity of their home in which two perished and two were injured.

The deceased are -- Rajendra Yadav, 60 and Sanjay Yadav, 24, while the injured victims are Dipu Yadav, 24, and five-year old Asha Yadav, said the BMC Disaster Control.

In another incident in Andheri, a 60-year old woman Kashima Yudiyar, was electrocuted near the RTO office and declared dead on admission to a hospital.

An eight-year old boy, Mahender Badga from Teranpada village in Vikramgad in adjoining Thane district, was killed when struck by lightning as he played outside his home today, police said.

Three persons -- Chandrakant Todavale, Chetan Tatthe and Vijay Naagar -- were injured in a wall crash outside their home, in which the condition of Naagar is described as critical.

As rains continued to lash the city, the lifelines of Mumbai -- the Central Railway, Western Railway and the main roads and Eastern Express Highway and Western Express Highway -- were hit with water-logging in several places.

An airport official said there were normal visibility-related delays of average 15 minutes, mainly for incoming services, but operations continued largely unaffected.

The subways at Milan in Santacruz, Dahisar, Malad and Andheri were shut for some time as they were flooded with some vehicles stranded inside and there were huge traffic snarls on both the EEH and WEH.

The Mumbai Traffic Police imposed diversions in many parts of the city including Sion, Dadar, Kurla, Sewri, Chembur, Khar, Bandra, Andheri, Kanjurmarg, Bhandup, Wadala, Kings Circle as the main roads were submerged in upto two-three feet waters.

Local trains on both the CR and WR were affected with delays ranging from 15-45 minutes and owing to water-logging on railway lines, stranding millions of commuters, especially students. The tracks were flooded in parts of Palghar, Thane and eastern and western suburbs on the suburban section, forcing 12 cancellations besides 105 services delayed.

According to the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation, from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., the city received 67 mm rains, the eastern suburbs notched 120 mm, and the western suburbs recorded 90 mm rainfall.

A few suburbs like Andheri, Juhu, Vikhroli, Kurla and others received in excess of 120-130 mm rains during the same period.

In a huge relief to Mumbaikars and the civic administration, the catchment areas of some of the lakes supplying to Mumbai received good rains on the opening day of the season. Vehar Lake (209 mm), Tulsi Lake (143 mm), Modak Sagar Lake (69 mm) and Middle Vaitarna (78 mm).

It maybe recalled that the IANS on Thursday (June 27) had highlighted the severe water crises staring at Mumbai and the BMC had started dipping into its emergency reserve stocks to quench the thirst of its 17 million people.

The IMD Mumbai has forecast a few heavy spells of rains later tonight and a wet weekend as rains will continue over the next two days.

The rains brought relief from the sultry heat with temperatures hovering at a comfortable minimum of 24 degrees Celsius and maximum of 30 degrees Celsius since morning.

Besides Mumbai, adjoining districts of Thane, Raigad and Palghar also received good rains since Thursday night, spelling cheer for the farmers and commoners.