Heavy Rains in Mumbai, Andheri subway closed, Man dies in tree collapse

Mumbai: Heavy rains that lashed Mumbai led to waterlogging in many areas of Mumbai on Wednesday, forcing the closure of the busy Andheri subway, civic officials said.

A tree collapse incident claimed a man's life in suburban Malad, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said in a release. The local train traffic on the Central and Western Railway routes was mostly normal though the trains were running a few minutes late, railway officials said.

"Due to accumulation of 1.5 to 2 feet of water, Andheri Subway is closed for vehicular movement. Traffic is diverted towards SV Road," Mumbai Traffic Police tweeted in the afternoon. The civic-run Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport or `BEST' buses on three routes were diverted at Ketki pada in Dahisar East.

In the 24 hours since previous morning, there were 26 incidents of tree fall, 15 incidents of short-circuit and five incidents of collapse or partial collapse of houses, the BMC said. Rains also pounded neighbouring Thane city, leading to waterlogging and incidents of wall and house collapse. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted more showers in Mumbai, with moderate to intense rain spells in isolated places. Kaushal Doshi (38) was severely injured in a tree fall at Mamledarwadi junction in the western suburb of Malad. He was rushed to the civic-run Shatabdi Hospital where the doctors declared him `brought dead', a BMC official said.

The island city (south Mumbai), eastern and western suburbs received 12.44 mm, 42.41 mm and 40.46 mm of rainfall, respectively, between 8 am to 12 noon on Wednesday, as per civic officials. IMD Mumbai issued a 'nowcast' warning at 9.30 am, saying "moderate to intense spells of rain very likely to occur at isolated places" in Mumbai along with some other coastal districts.

Municipal commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal and other senior officials visited the Mithi river bank in Bandra-Kurla Complex area, the under-construction coastal road in Worli and some other locations in Mumbai to assess the situation in view of the heavy showers.

Ironically, though the city has been receiving heavy rains over the last two-three days, the BMC has decided to implement a 10 per cent water cut from July 1 as the stock in the lakes supplying water to the city is down to about seven per cent.