Heavy rains again cause flooding in Mumbai

Normal life was thrown out of gear in the financial capital today by heavy rains that led to waterlogging in several areas and hit the movement of air and rail traffic.

The metropolis experienced an incessant downpour since the wee hours, inundating many areas across the city, civic officials said.

Traffic at the airport was affected with the air traffic control stopping runway operations owing to poor visibility at 9:46am, a spokesperson of Mumbai International Airport Ltd (Mial), the company that is developing the airport and operates it, said.

Operations on the runway resumed at about 10:15am, but visibility was restricted to 800 metres owing to which flight services were affected, the spokesperson said.

Prior to the runway being shut, arrivals at the airport were operating largely on schedule while departures were delayed by up to half an hour, the spokesperson said.

Morning office-goers reached their workplaces late as the suburban train services on the Western Railway as well as the main line and harbour line of the Central Railway were delayed.

Services on the main line were operating nearly half an hour late, while trains on the harbour branch were delayed by up to 15 minutes owing to waterlogging at some stations, an official said.

Western Railways' services were late by up to 15 minutes as tracks were submerged at stations like Grant Road and Borivli, the official said.

Road traffic was hit on the Eastern and Western express highways as well with vehicles moving slowly due to poor visibility and waterlogging, the traffic police said.