Rain fury paralyses city, 5 killed, 12 hurt

Rain fury paralyses city, 5 killed, 12 hurt
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE

MUMBAI, JULY 8: Heavy showers in the last 24 hours has left behind a trail of disruption, destruction and tragedy in the city. In all five persons were killed and at least 12 injured in separate incidents of house and wall collapses and tree crashes.

Local train services and road traffic was also affected at several places here, due to water-logging and blockage of drainages.

At Pydhonie, a 23-year-old man, Muktar Alam Khalil Sheikh was killed and three others injured when the parapet of a building collapsed at around 4.30 am. The injured were admitted to J J hospital.

Rain tragedy also struck `Italian Building' in Agripada, Mumbai Central, when a portion of the roof, in room number 29 gave way, instantly killing a four-year boy Gurdeep Singh. The incident occurred at around 6.30 am today when the family was sleeping. The three other family members, Gurudev Kaur (7), Jaswinder Kaur (28) and Indrajit Lal Singh (23) were rushed to Nair Hospital.

In yet another incident in Malad (E), two persons lost their lives and four were injured when the compound wall of their building collapsed at Appa Pada. The deceased are Sudhakar Ramashankar Mishra (35) and Dayashankar Shivmurat Pathak (30). The injured were admitted to Bhagwati hospital in Borivli. Among the injured persons is a three-year-old girl Sonu Tiwari.

A little further, a couple was injured when the ceiling of their house collapsed, at Gandhi Nagar in Malad.

Later in the day, at around 11.30 am, one man was killed and two others were trapped in the first floor of a building, after a portion collapsed at Calico Company, on LU Gadkari Marg in Chembur. Fire engines were rushed to the spot and rescue operations were on, said the fire officials. Of the two trapped persons, a 26-year-old youth was later rescued, and rushed to Shatabdi Hospital with severe leg injuries.

Long distance and local trains were running hours behind schedule due to water logging on the tracks. Vehicular traffic ran into jams in Sion, Ghatkopar, Dockyard Road, Mahim, Grant Road, Kurla. Thousands of people were seen stranded due to this.

Railway sources said 115 train services on the harbour line, 100 on the central and 50 on the western lines were cancelled due to water logging on tracks during the day.

While local trains on the western line had to be suspended for nearly an hour on Saturday morning between Grant Road and Mahim, services on the harbour line were affected between Belapur and Panvel. Harbour line trains were seen plying between Tilak Nagar and Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus on single line tracks.

But between 4 am to 7 am all Central Railway (mainline and harbour tracks) were completely suspended. In the afternoon, the trains were running 30 minutes behind schedule. Railway officials said, the water level on the tracks should be less than 4 inches for the trains to operate smoothly. But today, the water levels had risen anywhere between 7 to 13 inches at various stations.

Even some of the Brihanmumbai Electricity State Transport (BEST) buses were cancelled due to water logging at several junctions.

The Colaba Weather Bureau recorded 147.7 mm of rain, while the Santacruz observatory had 186.4 mm rainfall during the past 24 hours, which ended at 0930 hrs this morning. It has forecast moderate to heavy rains accompanied by gusty winds in the next 24 hrs. A warning has been issued to the fishermen not to venture into the sea, sources said.

Due to heavy and continuos rain in the Konkan region there were land slides at various places on the Konkan Railway system, several trains running on this track have been diverted or cancelled.