Orange' alert in rainiest city, four people die

Mumbai: Heavy rains continued to lash Mumbai and its surrounding areas, claiming the lives of four people on Monday. A compound wall of a posh housing complex in Wadala and an adjoining road caved in, resulting in several cars being trapped. However, there were no casualties in the mishap.

Over 24 hours, Mumbai recorded a whopping 231.44mm of rainfall, becoming the rainiest city in India this season, said the IMD officials. The IMD has also issued an ‘Orange’ alert for rainfall which means ‘heavy to very heavy’ rains for the next 24-48 hours, which is likely to extend till this weekend.

On Sunday evening, a tree collapsed at MG Road near Metro Cinema at Azad Maidan, injuring five people. Of them, Parshuram Bastin (74) died on the spot, whereas Rajendra Singh (60), who was critical, was admitted to GT Hospital. However, he passed away on Monday, said civic officials. Santosh Singh (26) is still under treatment whereas Salauddin Shaikh (48) and Ram Vilas Sohani (26) have been discharged.

An 18-year-old Nagendra Nagarjun died after falling into a nullah at Evershine Nagar in Malad (west), whereas 15-year-old Kiran Ghaywat (15) died after the wall of a nearby sewerage treatment plant collapsed on his family's home at Ulhasnagar.

At Wadala, the compound wall of 32-storey Lloyd's Estate building collapsed in the wee hours of Monday resulting in the cave-in of nearby road too. Nearly 15 vehicles were damaged after falling in the nearby pit. Following the incident, the BMC asked residents of the C and D wing of the building to evacuate their homes immediately.

Locals claimed that the mishap happened due to the excavation carried out for the construction of new building.

The BMC has issued a stop-work notice to the developer Dosti Realty, which is behind the construction. “We will now allow the developer to work only after monsoon,” said addl municipal commissioner Vijay Singhal.