By IANS
Mumbai : Heavy overnight showers claimed three more lives in the nation's financial capital Sunday, taking the death toll to five. Life was thrown out of gear as transport services were disrupted with several areas remaining water-logged.
According to police, two people were killed due to a landslide near a factory in northeastern suburb Chembur while a child was buried alive in a wall collapse at Rafiq Nagar in the northwestern suburb of Kandivli following torrential rains since Sunday morning.
On Saturday night, two people were killed and five injured after a five-storey dilapidated building in Grant Road collapsed due to the heavy showers.
The official also said that eleven crewmembers of a barge carrying sponge iron were reported missing after it sank at the Khanderi Island in neighbouring Raigad district.
Civic officials said they were fully prepared to deal with any eventuality but this was belied by eyewitness accounts from the suburbs that spoke of large areas being inundated.
Travellers on the two railway networks, which are the lifeline of the city, reported delays of up to 20 minutes due to water-logging of tracks.
The thunderstorms, coupled with strong winds and heavy showers, also affected operations at Mumbai airport, with several fights being delayed since late Saturday.
"We have been besieged with distress calls from affected areas throughout the night and have taken immediate action as and where needed," said an official at the civic body's Disaster Management Cell control room.
"We are fully prepared to tackle the situation. So far, there has been no major water-logging in the city," the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) official added.
However, residents of the affected areas had a different tale to tell.
"It's been raining cats and dogs since yesterday (Saturday) evening, and water levels are rising in several areas," said Manisha Kale, a resident of Sion in central Mumbai.
"Several areas in Sion are water-logged and the BMC failed to pump out the water till this morning, contrary to its promise that it is fully prepared to tackle such eventuality," Kale told IANS.
"We fear the worse with more rain forecast in the coming days. I hope we do not have to go through the horrific experience we faced two years ago," Kale said.
Several parts of Lower Parel and Lalbaug, also in central Mumbai, and areas like Andheri and Juhu in the south were water-logged due to the incessant rains.
The showers have also thrown vehicular traffic out of gear mainly in south, central and western suburbs.
According to the meteorological department, south Mumbai has received 200 mm of rainfall since Saturday evening. The suburbs recorded over 55 mm rainfall.
Local housing authorities had apparently served an eviction notice to the residents of the 40-year-old building because of its poor condition and the top four floors had been vacated. But a sweetmeat shop on the ground floor had obtained a stay order, saying it would get the structure repaired.
"There were many customers and workers present in the shop when the top floor of the building caved in and trapped six people. Rescue workers managed to save four people but two died," a police official told IANS.
According to an official at the Chhatrapati Shivaji domestic terminus, "strong crosswinds and heavy thunderstorms have brought down the visibility at the airport, resulting in delays of incoming and outbound flights".
Weathermen have predicted that Mumbai and parts of Maharashtra will experience heavy showers for the next 48 hours.
"Heavy rainfall is likely at a few places, including Greater Mumbai, Thane, Ahmednagar, Dhule, Jalgaon and Nasik for the next 48 hours," said C.V.V. Bhadram, deputy director general of the Regional Metrological Centre.
Mumbai had come to a virtual standstill on July 26, 2005, when large areas were inundated with waist-high water, forcing hundreds of people to spend the night in stalled cars, buses and trains.
In Pune, 11 people were killed in two separate incidents of wall collapse Saturday. Rain also caused devastation in Sangli in western Maharashtra, where scores of mud huts were washed away and one person was killed by lightning.
In Nasik, four people died after being struck by lightning. The city also experienced a nightlong power failure Saturday.