Rains return to Mumbai after hiatus; airport ops hit briefly

Heavy rains made a reappearance in Mumbai Monday after a hiatus, affecting road and rail traffic and briefly disrupting operations at the city airport.

Office-goers braved torrential downpour in many parts of the metropolis to reach their places of work.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast "intense spells of rainfall" with heavy rains expected at a few places in Mumbai and suburbs Monday.

It said heavy to very heavy rainfall is also likely at places in Raigad and Palghar districts and at a few places in Thane district.

Mumbai airport operations were briefly suspended in the morning due to heavy rains, which prompted the airport operator to divert three city-bound flights, a Mumbai International Airport Limited official said. No flights were cancelled, he added.

Runway operations at the Mumbai airport remained suspended for nearly 20 minutes from 9.12 am due to heavy rains, he added.

The Central Railway said there was heavy rain at various locations on Mumbai suburban route. "Central Railway locals are running normal on main line, harbour line, transharbour line and 4th corridor (Kharkopar-Nerul/Belapur). No disruption anywhere," it tweeted.

The suburbs received around 20 mm rainfall in just three hours starting 8.30 am, an IMD official here said.

This caused water-logging on rail tracks at Ghatkopar, Kanjurmarg, Sion and other stations due to which local trains on the Central Line were running slow.

The Mumbai municipal corporation said it regrets the inconvenience caused to Mumbai residents owing to heavy rain.

"Dear Mumbaikars, the city has experience heavy rainfall in the last couple of hours, especially in the eastern suburb. We regret all the inconvenience that has showered along. But the intensity is on decline now & our teams will try to pump out logged water as soon as possible," the BMC tweeted.

A viral video showed a gaping manhole in Chembur swallowing a bike.

Heavy cloud formation was bringing more rains to the city, the IMD official said.

"The catchment areas of dams that supply drinking water to Mumbai are also receiving good precipitation. The city is expected to receive more rains today," he added.

The metropolis and its adjoining areas received heavy rains for four consecutive days in June end-early July, badly affecting normal life and disrupting rail, road and and air traffic at that time.

After that, the city had been witnessing sporadic rains in the last few days.