Heavy rains lash Mumbai

Mumbai  :  After a week’s lull, heavy rains lashed Mumbai and surrounding areas again since early Tuesday, disrupting normal vehicular movement during the peak hours, officials said.

The downpour, which started midnight, resulted in several low-lying areas of the city getting waterlogged.

Road traffic was diverted for three-and-half hours from Dadar Tuesday morning due to flooding in Hindmata area, a Bruhanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) official said.

Suburban train services and air traffic operations were normal.

According to the Regional Meteorological Centre here, Mumbai city notched 8.98 cm rain and the suburbs recorded 5.20 cm as rains continued through the day.

The fresh spell of rains has improved the water storage situation in the lakes supplying drinking water to Mumbai’s 17 million population.

Of the total seven lakes, four have started overflowing and the remaining three are expected to overflow soon.

The present water availability in Mumbai is 12,03,860 million litres compared to last year’s full level of 12,42,024 million litres, a BMC official said.