Heavy rains in Mumbai hit traffic, airlines issue travel advisories

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The first heavy rains of this season brought traffic to a halt in several areas of Mumbai on Friday, with authorities putting diversions on many roads adding to the chaos.

Deputy commissioner of police (traffic) Shahaji Umap said that many roads witnessed slow moving traffic.

“We have zeroed down on more than 100 spots in the city where waterlogging or road closures can cause traffic jams. Commuters are requested to follow the traffic police’s directions to continue their travel,” said Umap.

Commuters said it took more than the usual time to travel as traffic remained standstill for hours, especially on the Western and Eastern Express Highways.

Roads leading to the Western Express Highway at Andheri and Jogeshwari-Vikhroli link road witnessed traffic snarls where travellers were delayed by more than two hours to reach their destinations.

Officials said traffic on Eastern Express Highway, LBS road from Ghatkopar to Mulund was slow moving causing a delay of more than an hour. They also said many places in central and south Mumbai were water clogged slowing the movement of traffic, especially in Dadar and Lower Parel.

Waterlogging was reported from Dharavi, King’s Circle, Western Express Highway, near Chakala Metro station and the airport, Chembur, Chunnabhatti, Mahalakshmi, Andheri subway, Kalanagar and many other places in the city.

The closure of bridges and roads by the civic body was also a reason behind the traffic snarls in the country’s financial hub.

BEST undertaking said it has diverted several buses on 13 different routes due to heavy water logging at Sion and Hindmata junctions. Railway spokespersons said local train services were running normally though there was a delay of five to ten minutes.

According to Flightradar24, a Swedish internet-based service that shows real-time commercial flight information, there was an average delay of 35 minutes in departures at the Mumbai airport. Some airlines issued advisories asking flyers to keep more time in handed while travelling to the airport.

BMC’s disaster management cell said Mumbai witnessed around 17-22 mm of rains between 10am and 11am, with maximum rainfall of 22-30 mm rainfall in western suburbs and 16-23 mm of rains in the eastern suburbs.

Intense spell of rain expected over Mumbai, Thane and Palghar over the next four hours and are likely to continue through the weekend, the weather bureau said.

Several commuters took to Twitter to vent their frustration as they waited hours in traffic jams.

Sarath tweeted traffic on the Western Express Highway was not moving and Vaivhav Mahamunkar posted that it took him three hours to cover a distance of 8.5 kilometres at Andheri MIDC.