Shekhar Devodiya (33), a paan shop owner, was the first human casualty of the rains. He died after being electrocuted at his shop at RCF colony, Chembur.

The situation is not likely to improve tomorrow, with the weather bureau forecasting heavy rains on Sunday. Warnings have been issued to Railways, BMC, BEST and fishermen. Winds blowing at 50-60 km per hour and rough seas have also been predicted.

Meanwhile, the Byculla telephone exchange, which serves the central controls of the Mumbai fire brigade and police, was rendered dysfunctional by the rains. All fire brigade control telephones, including 101, were not functioning at the time of going to press.

The rains,which measured 15.92 cm at Colaba and 7.56 cm at Santa Cruz, led to traffic jams for hours together at Kings Circle, Elphinstone Road bridge, Maratha Mandir at Mumbai Central, Haji Ali, Dadar TT and various other parts of the city.

The Western and Eastern Express Highways, the two main entry and exit points in the city, witnessed chaotic scenes. The Indian Express office was flooded with telephone calls from stranded people.``I wanted to go to Dahanu but have been stuck near Malad on the Western Express Highway since 5 pm. All the MTNL lines are out of order and I cannot even make a call to my family,'' said Rakesh Malhotra.

Bus services of the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) Undertaking also came to a standstill by 7 pm.

The Western Railway, which began suspending its services around 3.30 pm, finally stopped all trains by 6 pm. However, skeletal services were resumed from Virar to Bandra by 6.30 pm. The Central Railway suspended its services by 5.45 pm. ``The water level at Matunga isnearly six inches above the ground and may rise further,'' said R K Tandon, the chief spokesperson of the Western Railway.

Central Railway general manager, K B Sankaran, refused to accept that the CR storm water draining system had completely collapsed. ``Look at the heavy rainfall. We were fully prepared for the rains but the showers have disrupted our services. We have to wait till it stops,'' Sankaran said.

CR engineers will rush to the tracks as soon as the rain stops and find out what went wrong with the draining system, he said. ``Adequate measures are being taken to restore the services at the earliest,'' he added.

The area between Kurla, Vidya Vihar and Ghatkopar have been completely flooded with six to eight inches of water above the railway tracks, according to CR PRO Mukul Marwah. Flooding has also occurred between Masjid and Byculla, besides Sewri-Wadala on the Harbour line. The flooding has occurred because the heavy rainfall coincided with high tide, Marwah added.

The weather bureau hassaid that the rains, though heavy, were only to be expected. ``We had warned the BMC and other government agencies of nearly 15 cm rain today afternoon,'' said director of weather bureau B Shyamala. She claimed that such rains occurred two or three times every monsoon. The bureau has also warned of heavy rains in the city till tomorrow afternoon. ``We expect showers up to 20 cm in the next 15 hours,'' Shyamala said.

AREAS INUNDATED

Grant Road, Maratha Mandir at Mumbai Central, Peddar Road, Nanachowk at Tardeo, Napeansea Road, Sasoon Docks, Haji Ali, Dadar TT, King's Circle, Pandurang Budhkar Marg at Worli, M G Road at Ghatkopar, Ghatkopar-Kurla Link Road, Andheri-Kurla Link Road, Parts of the Western and Eastern Express Highways at Malad, Goregaon, Mulund, Sion and S V Road at Bandra, Andheri, Malad and Kandivali.