mumbai

Updated: May 27, 2020 16:47 IST

Heavy rain lashed Mumbai since Monday morning after a brief break on Sunday, leaving 18 spots waterlogged and causing traffic snarls for hours at highways, civic body officials said.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said the city received about 85% of the entire month’s rainfall in just four days.

Most waterlogged spots were reported in western suburbs’ Akruti Mall, Jogeshwari, Natraj Market-Malad and Andheri market, officials said.

Due to heavy rains, a man reportedly fell into a drain near Vikroli Park site. Search for the unidentified man went on till late evening.

Also Watch | Incessant rains brings Mumbai to a standstill, 16 killed in wall collapse

Rain also affected movement of pedestrians. Citizens took to twitter to complain about inaccessible skywalk at Bandra, which forced pedestrians to use the pothole-riddled road under the skywalk.

Prashant Gaikwad, K West ward officer, said, “Two pumps of 250 cubic metre per hour were in operation. However the water gushed in with force and so we had to shut the subway.”

Vidyadhar Khandkar, chief engineer of the stormwater drains (SWD) department, said, “The Mogra nullah which needs a cross section of 15 square metres is only 5 square metres now which is why the water enters Andheri area. We have now revived this project and hopefully in the next few monsoons the situation will get better.” Deputy municipal commissioner Chandrashekar Chore said, “The city received 85% of June rains in four days. Also at Sion when we tried to de-water the pumps, trash and plastic chocked the pumps which is why the water could not be pumped out at the expected speed. The BMC is working to control the situation and our entire manpower in on toes.” Chore said nine teams from the Navy and six flood rescue teams from the fire brigade have been kept on standby.

Civic chief Praveen Pardeshi said, “Despite heavy downpour, BMC was able to manage to run all the locals and BEST buses without any calamity.”

A wall of around 20 feet of Lodha Aria residential society collapsed around 10.30 am, but there were no injuries.