Mumbai – The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has put Mumbai and the surrounding districts on “red alert” for Wednesday, August 20, which means they should expect another day of heavy rain. The alert says that there will be “intense to very intense rainfall spells accompanied by gusty winds.” This comes after a day of pandemonium that shut down the city’s key services.
The rains that wouldn’t stop on Tuesday caused problems that had never happened before. The most spectacular event was the rescue of 782 people from two Monorail trains that were trapped on high lines between stations and were too full. The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) said that the power outage happened because the trains were too full and people were looking for other ways to go about after local train services were stopped. Some passengers said they were suffocating and fainted during the rescue operation, which featured fire brigade and civic crews. They were successfully evacuated.
The city’s local train services, which are its lifelines, were hit hard. The Central Railway’s harbor line was shut down for more than 15 hours because the tracks were flooded, and some parts were under as much as 15 inches of water. Even though services have been resumed, there are still long delays on both the Central and Western Railway lines. Several long-distance trains were also cut short or rerouted, which made things even worse for commuters.
The University of Mumbai took action and moved all of its Wednesday exams to a later date because of the disruption on public transportation and the safety of its students. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), on the other hand, made it clear that a viral message saying that schools and institutions will be closed on Wednesday was false and told people to only trust official statements.
Mumbai saw nearly 200 mm of rain in just 11 hours on Tuesday, which caused flooding in several low-lying neighborhoods. Streets in Kurla, Dadar, and Sion looked like rivers. The Mithi River also swelled to a frightening 3.9 meters, barely short of its 4-meter danger mark. This forced the quick evacuation of more than 400 people from weak slum clusters in Kurla’s Kranti Nagar.
The IMD said that the rain will get less heavy starting Thursday, but the immediate worry is still the heavy rain that is now falling. Raigad district is still on red alert, while Thane, Palghar, and Ratnagiri are on orange alert. The constant rain in Maharashtra has also caused more deaths. On Tuesday alone, five people died, raising the total to 24 across the state.