Evening downpour brings Mumbai to a standstill: 4 dead, severe flooding, rail and air traffic disrupted as city receives over 200mm of rain | Mumbai News

BMC and TMC declared school and college holidays. Red alert was issued for Mumbai, Thane and Raigad till Thursday morning.

MUMBAI/NAVI MUMBAI/THANE: Over a five-hour period from 5pm on Wednesday, parts of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region received over 200mm of rain, resulting in four Deathsextensive flooding, heavy traffic, Central Railway Train cancellations and flight diversions.
Stressed commuters were stuck on streets, at stations and on trains for hours. Red alert until Thursday 8.30 a.m., citizens' initiatives BMC and TMC declared holidays for schools and colleges. While a 45-year-old woman drowned in a nullah in Andheri East, two people died while working in a quarry due to lightning strikes in Kalyan. A woman drowned near Zenith Falls.
The IMD upgraded its orange alert issued on Wednesday afternoon for Mumbai, Thane and Raigad to red in the evening, warning that there was a high probability of extremely heavy rain and thunderstorms with lightning and gusty winds at isolated places until 8.30 am on Thursday. Thereafter, an orange alert was issued for Thursday.
In the 12 hours up to 8.30 pm on Wednesday, Colaba Observatory recorded 70.4 mm of rainfall and Santacruz 94.9 mm. Suburbs like Mankhurd (276 mm of rainfall), Ghatkopar (259 mm) and Powai (234 mm) were the worst affected.
Train services on the main and port routes of Central Railway were also severely affected. Western Railway reported no disruption. On the main route, services on the slow route from Vidyavihar were suspended from 8.10 pm due to severe flooding. Services on the route to Thane resumed at 9.10 pm with speed restrictions, while the route to CSMT reopened at 9.40 pm.
Due to flooding, the Harbour Line operations were suspended from 9.40 pm and trains ran only between CSMT-Kurla and Vashi-Panvel.
Meanwhile, 14 flights were diverted at the city airport, while seven flights aborted landing and climbed to altitude for a second touchdown attempt.
Thane recorded 81 mm of rain in 12 hours starting from 8:30 am on Wednesday, leading to flooding and traffic disruption during rush hour, officials said. Uprooted trees in some areas affected cable internet service, consumers complained.