Mumbai, July 06: Overnight rain brought about the usual chaos in the city on Sunday, despite claims of monsoon preparedness by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).
Three people died, crushed by buildings or trees or electrocuted, the queue of sick people mounted at hospitals, streets were waterlogged and railway services went haywire.
Santacruz recorded the season’s highest rainfall with 243.9 mm while Colaba had 124.9 mm between 8.30 am Saturday to the same time Sunday. The BMC’s disaster management helpline admitted heavy waterlogging at Hindmata in Dadar, Kala Chowki, Parel, Mahim Junction, Andheri Kurla Road, Sion-Dharavi Road, Government Colony Bandra and Mahakali Caves.
The Bullion Building in Zaveri Bazaar collapsed shortly after midnight, killing one person and injuring three; they had sought shelter in the empty building. The back of Kaneria House in Kalbadevi, also unoccupied, gave way in the morning; there were no casualties.
The compound wall of another unoccupied house in Gangawadi, Ghatkopar (W), collapsed on Sunday evening, injuring three women, while a subway wall at Bandra terminus collapsed on Saturday night, injuring two railway employees and another person.
A tree collapsed in Kandivili and killed Surekha Salve (30). Manjula Devendre (40) of Shivajinagar Govandi died after receiving an electric shock. Ten-year-old Abdul Khan, who was with her, was severely injured.
Suburban rail services were disrupted as the tracks got flooded at Kurla, Sion, Matunga, and Chunabhatti. Central and Harbour Line services were delayed by 30 minutes while Western line trains ran 15-20 minutes behind schedule.
Sangeeta Verma of Malad, who travels by the Western line everyday, said, “Local trains were running at snail’s pace. It took me nearly two hours to reach Malad from Churchgate.”
–Agencies