Monsoon reaches Mumbai; local train services hit after heavy rains
(Sourced from PTI)
The southwest monsoon arrived in Mumbai and its neighboring areas on Wednesday, the IMD announced as heavy rains lashed the country's financial capital and suburbs since early morning. Local train services from Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji MaharajTerminus (CSMT) to neighboring Thane and Vashi in Navi Mumbai were suspended due to water-logging on some railway tracks, officials said.
"A high tide of over four meters is expected around noon in the Arabian Sea," the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said. Several parts of the city and suburbs witnessed heavy rainfall along with thunder in the morning.
The IMD has predicted a cloudy sky with moderate rain/ thundershowers in the city and suburbs. There is also a possibility of heavy to very heavy rainfall at isolated places. The first heavy rain of this monsoon disrupted local train services. There was water-logging between Sion and Chunabhatti stations on the Central Railway (CR) route.
Later, the train services were suspended between CSMT and Thane (main line), and between CSMT and Vashi (Harbour Line) from 10:20 am, CR's chief spokesperson Shivaji Sutar said. "Services on the Trans-Harbour line and BSU (Uran) lines are running smoothly. Also, shuttle services from Thane to Karjat/Kasara and Vashi-Panvel are running," he said. There was no disruption on the Western Railway route.
The IMD on Saturday confirmed the arrival of the southwest monsoon in Maharashtra as it reached Harnai in the coastal Ratnagiri district. But, despite favorable conditions, the monsoon's further progress seemed to be slow.
According to the IMD, the Colaba observatory (representative of south Mumbai) received 77.4 mm rainfall, while the Santacruz observatory (representative of the suburbs) recorded 59.6 mm downpour in the last 24 hours. As per the BMC, the island city, eastern suburbs, and western suburbs recorded 48.49 mm, 66.99 mm, and 48.99 mm rain, respectively, in the 24-hour period ending at 8 am on Wednesday.
