Life thrown out of gear in flooded city

Mumbai: Western suburbs were the most affected as heavy rains lashed them throughout on Tuesday. The problem worsened further as flooded water refused to recede throwing the common life in western suburbs out of gear.

In the city, areas like Gandhi Market, Sion, Hindmata, Antop Hill, M.N. Joshi Marg, Lower Parel, Wadala, Fitwalla Road, Dadar, Bail Bazar, Kurla, Goregaon, Bandra, Milan Subway, Santacruz were under water as heavy rainfall collided with the high tide of 4.4 metres in the morning.

The F North ward, which includes areas like Sion and Dadar, received the highest rainfall at 322mm between 8 am on Monday and 12 noon on Tuesday followed by Wadala (319mm), Worli (301mm), G-South ward (291mm) and Borivali (290mm).

“Our entire area in Sion, Kings Circle, Matunga, Dadar TT was flooded since morning and the water did not recede till the evening. The traffic was heavily affected due to water logging. It caused a lot of inconvenience to local residents,” said civic activist Nikhil Desai from Kings Circle.

On Tuesday, four incidents of wall collapse were reported in the city. Heavy rains also resulted in trees fell at 43 places – 21 in western suburbs, 18 in city and four in eastern suburbs. Thirty incidents of short circuit were reported, the highest being 18 in city followed by eastern suburbs (7) and western suburbs (5).

Citizens took to social media to share pictures of their areas where roads were deep under the water.  “The roads near Wadala station were completely clogged with knee-deep water. On my way, I saw many drains, yet I was struggling to wade through the water accumulated. Even there was no auto-rickshaws seen anywhere near the area,” said Jyoti Malde, a college student. While many commuters especially the office-goers expressed their displeasure over the difficulties in such heavy rains, a few were seen rowing rubber boats in the flooded areas.