Heavy rain lashes Mumbai; trains, road traffic hit

Mumbai : Heavy rains lashed Mumbai and neighbouring Thane district overnight, causing water-logging at several places and affecting local train services and road traffic movement on Tuesday morning, officials said.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has appealed to residents to stay at home and urged commercial establishments, except those providing essential services, to remain closed on Tuesday as heavy rains are likely to continue for next 48 hours.

This is the heaviest spell of rain in the financial capital since 2005, Maharashtra minister Aaditya Thackeray said. "198 mm rain in four hours is a huge amount of rain. Any city in the world will collapse with such rain," Thackeray said.

Suburban train services on the harbour line were stopped in the morning due to water-logging on rail tracks while services on the western and central lines were also affected, a civic official said.

Local trains in Mumbai and suburbs are currently being operated only for those involved in essential services in the wake of the coronavirus crisis.