Heavy rains lash Mumbai, Thane; 8 killed, flights delayed

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- dEsPeraTe cRaNky -
MUMBAI:

Heavy rains coupled with strong winds on Wednesday lashed the city and its suburbs, disrupting air and rail traffic and leading to water logging in many areas.

The city received 60.77 mm rainfall since Tuesday. Colaba in south Mumbai received 78.6 mm and suburban Santacruz received 95.0 mm, the MET department said.

Train services on the Western line were running late by 10-15 minutes whereas on the Central line, trains were delayed by 15-20 minutes.

Airline sources said there was an average delay of one-and-a-half to two hours in flight operations due to heavy rains.

"The start-up delay is around one-and-a-half to two hours due to congestion caused by heavy rains and strong winds," they said.

However, the Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL) spokesperson said, "There is an average delay of half-an-hour to 40 minutes across flights."

Five flights have been diverted, including one Air India Chennai flight, the sources said.

Water logging has been reported at Dadar in central Mumbai, Cadbury Junction, Hind Mata and other areas, civic officials said.

Heavy rainfall is expected to continue in the city with strong gusty winds and thundershowers in parts of city and suburbs, the weatherman said.

The BMC has on Wednesday alerted a high tide of 4.70 metres at 1521 hours.

"Any tide above 4.5 metres is coupled with heavy rains and is a matter of concern," joint municipal commissioner S S Shinde said.

Another tide of 4.07 metres is expected at 1421 hours, the civic body said.

"We appeal to Mumbaikars not to venture into the sea and stay away from the coastline area as a high tide has been predicted today," Shinde said.

The civic body had earlier said that the city would witness high tides measuring about 4.70 metres till June 17.

In the month of June, there will be tides from June 13 to 17 measuring between 4.58 m to 4.73 m, the BMC had said.

On July 26, 2005, the metropolis saw unprecedented floods as 944 mm of rainfall coincided with a 4.48 m tide.

8 killed as wall collapses in Thane

Eight people were crushed to death in sleep when a wall collapsed in Mumbai's Thane area early on Wednesday, police said.

The incident took place around 4.30am when the boundary wall of Dosti Constructions in Vartak Nagar suburb of Dyaneshwar Nagar area in Thane suddenly collapsed on the hutments adjacent to the wall, trapping the people who were fast asleep.

Relief operations were underway by the police and fire brigade officials to rescue the people trapped in the debris.

As per preliminary information, the wall is believed to have collapsed owing to heavy rains lashing Mumbai in the past two days.

So far, there have been 40 rain-related deaths across the state in the past one week.
 
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