MONSOON BOON OR BANE? Mumbai witnesses heavy rains, water-logging hits rail and road traffic

Mumbai: After delayed monsoons and the third driest June since 1951, finally some relief for Mumbaikars! The city and the coastal regions of Maharashtra witnessed heavy rainfall on Wednesday. Heavy rain was reported from Thane, Raigad, Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg, Nashik, Ahmednagar and Satara districts. Popular hill stations like Lonavala, Matheran, Panchagani and Mahabaleshwar were also soaked by the heavy rain, cooling the high temperatures of the past three months. The IMD had predicted relief in certain parts of the country in the first week of July. The monsoons were delayed by three weeks, the usual onset of the monsoons is June 10. Even though the rains brought down the soaring temperatures in the city but it also brought its share of woes, the consequences of the downpour were heavy water logging in the low-lying areas and disruptions in road and rail traffic within and outside the city. Traffic came to a halt or crawled at some sections on the S.V. Road in the western suburbs and L.B.S. Marg in the eastern suburbs. Suburban trains on Western Railway, Central Railway and Harbour Line ran into delays. There were traffic snarls on some sections of the Eastern Express Highway as also Western Express Highway, which slice the city vertically. By noon, Mumbai recorded a healthy 105 mm rainfall, raising hopes of postponement of the proposed water cuts planned by the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai.