More than 3 million commuters rely on suburban local train services daily in Mumbai and the neighboring areas of Thane, Palghar, and Raigad.
Heavy rains have hit Mumbai and its surrounding areas in the last 24 hours, leading to widespread waterlogging and disrupting suburban train services. Some areas in the city recorded over 300 mm of rainfall within six hours, from 1 am to 7 am on Monday.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued an orange alert for Mumbai, Thane, Palghar, and the Konkan belt. Vikhroli’s Veer Savarkar Marg Municipal School and MCMCR Powai experienced the highest rainfall in the last 24 hours, with over 315 mm recorded.
Images from across the city showed people wading through waist-deep water and cars lined up bumper to bumper on Mumbai roads. All government, private, and municipal schools and colleges have been closed across the city.
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At Dombivli station, people waited for trains on submerged tracks. Waterlogging was reported in Worli, Buntara Bhavan in Kurla East, King’s Circle area of Mumbai, Dadar, and Vidyavihar Railway Station. More than 3 million commuters use the suburban local train services in Mumbai and the neighboring areas of Thane, Palghar, and Raigad daily.
Train services between Kasara and Titwala stations in Thane district were suspended after soil covered the tracks between Atgaon and Thansit stations, disrupting rail traffic on the busy Kalyan-Kasara route.
The tracks were declared unsafe around 6:30 am, according to an official.
Officials have stated that if the rain stops for more than two hours, the waterlogging will subside. However, the weather office has predicted heavy rain throughout the day. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast heavy to very heavy rainfall in Mumbai today.
Sea waves of 4.4 meters are expected at high tide around 2 pm.
Several trains were diverted, rescheduled, or terminated due to waterlogging between the Kalyan and Kasara stations of the Mumbai division.
Officials informed news agency PTI that heavy rainfall and flash floods between 3 am and 6 am on the Vasind-Khardi section caused damage to the track embankment.
Several teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) are currently deployed in Thane, Vasai (Palghar), Mahad (Raigad), Chiplun (Ratnagiri), Kolhapur, Sangli, Satara, Ghatkopar, Kurla, and Sindhudurg. The NDRF rescued 49 people from a waterlogged resort in Thane and 16 villagers in Palghar. They used boats and life jackets to rescue those stranded at the resort due to flooding.
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