Three drown as heavy rain lashes Mumbai for the 3rd day

Updated at 4 pm

MUMBAI: Three people drowned in floods and several flights were delayed as Mumbai received heavy monsoon showers for the third successive day, triggering fears of a repeat of last year's flooding.

Two people were drowned in neighbouring Thane's Kashimira area on Monday, while one person drowned at Worli seaface on Sunday.

The weather office has forecast more heavy showers over the next day.

Large stretches of road in this city of 18.5 million were submerged, the subways turned invisible and traffic snarls were everywhere as more reports of water logging in many suburbs poured in.

Local trains on all the lines - Western, Central and Harbour - were running late by at least 10 to 15 minutes and domestic flights leaving the Chhatrapati Shivaji Airport were about 15 to 20 minutes behind schedule.

"I did not send my daughter to school though it is not too far off from our home. It's not worth taking the risk," said Ambika Nair, a housewife in Andheri.

Watching the overcast skies and heavy downpour, Nair recalled the deluge on July 26 last year when the city received 944 mm of rain, leading to civic services going for a toss and thousands being marooned in offices, schools, homes and on the streets.

The  rains have led to the Andheri subway - a vital link between East and West Andheri in western Mumbai - being closed. Traffic was diverted towards another road, Linking Road, resulting in chaos owing to the snail-paced movement of vehicles.

It was a similar story on the Khar-S.V. Road subway. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation was trying to clear water-logging at several other vital junctions and subways using pumps.

"I will try my best to get to the station. If it doesn't work out I will just go back home. It's hopeless as at this rate I will reach office only for tomorrow's duty," said Ramesh Tawde, a clerk at a private company in south Mumbai, who had to take the local train from Andheri.

The India Meteorological Department has forecast heavy to very heavy showers for a day. The Colaba area in south Mumbai received 129 mm rain and Santa Cruz in western Mumbai recorded 164 mm.

Fishermen along the Maharashtra-Goa coast have been warned not to venture into the sea as it will be rough with raging southwesterly winds of 35 to 60 kmph.

On Sunday, the runway of Chhatrapati Shivaji Airport was closed for 45 minutes during the morning peak hours leading to cancellation of 10 flights of Air Deccan, Indian, and SpiceJet.