Mumbai rain fury: 25 die in house collapses after landslides

@the_news_21

Twenty five people died in house collapses triggered by landslides following incessant overnight rains in Mumbai, which caused severe water logging and disruption of suburban train services and vehicular traffic in the financial capital on Sunday, officials said.

The Western Railway and Central Railway briefly suspended suburban train services in Mumbai after the heavy rains, and many long distance trains were terminated or regulated at various stations, officials said.

Seventeen people died as a compound wall came crashing down on some houses located on a hillock after a landslide, a fire official said.

The retaining wall of the Bharatnagar locality in Mumbai’s Mahul area collapsed at 1 am, the official said. Seven people were injured and taken to nearby Rajawadi hospital, he added.

Seven hutment dwellers died as six shanties collapsed after a landslide following incessant overnight rains in Mumbai’s Vikhroli suburb at 2.30 am, a civic official said. Two persons were injured and were sent to a nearby hospital, he added.

A 16-year-old boy died after a forest department compound wall collapsed in suburban Bhandup, an official said.

A viral video showed a two-wheeler being dragged in water in an inundated street in Chinchpokli area.

The suburban train services were suspended due to water logging on the tracks due to the overnight heavy downpour, railway officials said, adding the services were resumed in the morning.

Before the pandemic, both the Central Railway and Western Railway used to ferry over 75 lakh commuters a day in over 3000 suburban train services which are now allowed only for emergency services staff and government employees.

The rain fury reminded some Mumbaikars of the the 24-hour rainfall figure of 944 mm on July 26, 2005.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued a red alert for Mumbai in the backdrop of heavy rains, a BMC official said.

Alerts by the IMD are colour-coded from green to red. A ‘green’ alert stands for ‘no warning’: no action needs to be taken by the authorities, and the forecast is of light to moderate rain. A ‘red’ alert stands for “warning”, and asks authorities to “take action”. An orange’ alert indicates that the authorities are expected to be prepared .

A sudden change in climatic conditions led to Mumbai witnessing over 100 mm rainfall in six hours, the IMD said in an early morning bulletin. It also changed the rains forecast for the city from orange to red alert.

The IMD said that till 6.30 am on Sunday, Mumbai and adjoining areas received over 120 mm rainfall in preceding 12 hours.

Mumbai would receive heavy to very heavy rainfall at a few places with extremely heavy rainfall at isolated places, the IMD said.

Extremely heavy rainfall means precipitation of more than 204.5 mm in 24 hours, while heavy rainfall ranges between 115.6 mm to 204.4 mm rainfall, as per the IMD.

The bulletin issued at 3 am said IMD recorded 213 mm rainfall at Santacruz, 197.5 mm at Bandra and 174 mm at Colaba in the city.