The Hindu : National : Monsoon arrives ahead of schedule in Mumbai

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Sunday, Jun 08, 2008
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Monsoon arrives ahead of schedule in Mumbai

MUMBAI: The south-west monsoon hit Mumbai ahead of schedule on Saturday bringing copious rain and disrupting normal life with water-logging across the city, disrupting road traffic and throwing suburban rail service out of gear.

The city’s Meteorological Department recorded 152 mm of rainfall at its Colaba station in north-west Mumbai and 198.3 mm at its Santacruz station between 8-30 a.m. on Friday and 2-30 p.m. on Saturday.

Office-goers had a tough time negotiating their way to work and back with many roads choked and suburban trains delayed due to water-logging of railway tracks.

The suburban train system, which forms the backbone of the city’s transport network, was hit hard with services on Western and Central Railways delayed.

While trains on Western Railway were operating with a delay of about 15 minutes, services on Central Railway were shut for nearly an hour due to water-logging at stations like Masjid and Matunga.

Air service delayed

Air services were delayed by five minutes to half-an-hour since morning.

Two flights, both operated by Kingfisher Airlines, coming to the city from Kolkata and Delhi had to be diverted late on Friday night because of heavy rain, said an airline spokesperson.

The rains also claimed a life, with a man dying in the north-west suburb of Andheri after a wall collapsed on him in the wee hours of Saturday.

The city’s civic body said water-logging was recorded at 43 locations in the city, including the western and eastern suburbs. - PTI

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