Rains Bring Bombay to a Standstill

Author: 
Shahid Raza Burney, Arab News
Publication Date: 
Mon, 2006-08-07 03:00

NEW DELHI/BOMBAY, 7 August 2006 — Incessant rains continued to lash Bombay as well as several parts of Maharashtra yesterday, paralyzing normal life as many roads remained under water and several flights were diverted.

India’s financial capital suffered chock-a-block traffic due to flooded roads and subways. Water logging was reported in many neighborhoods of Bombay.

The roads were submerged in many areas, especially in central Bombay. Several flights were diverted from the city as visibility was down to only 300 meters. Some flights were delayed by more than an hour yesterday. According to railway officials, a number of long distance as well as suburban local trains were running slow.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has warned citizens that heavy showers might continue and asked them not to venture out of their homes unless necessary. The meteorological department predicted heavy rains for till today noon.

Pune, around 180 km east of here, was also hit by heavy showers with its main rivers Mula and Muthha flowing above the danger mark. A flood alert was issued after 25,000 cusecs of water was released from the Khadakvasla dam.

Five people were Saturday crushed to death after a residential-cum-commercial complex collapsed following heavy rains in Akola, a district more than 600 km northeast of Bombay.

More than 13,000 people have been evacuated from marooned villages in Nanded district, around 650 km from Bombay, in the Marathwada region where 25 villages were reportedly cut off completely by floods.

The situation was similar in Gadchiroli district in Vidarbha region. The army, navy and air force were helping with rescue operations in the flood-affected places. The Nanded-Nagpur-Akola-Hyderabad road has been closed to traffic, officials said.

Eighteen people were drowned in river, when a passenger bus plunged into a river in Buldhana. A Maharashtra government official said that several rivers in the state were overflowing the danger mark, and high alert has been sounded. So far, the official said that 25,000 people have been shifted to safe areas. Three helicopters were pressed into rescue operations in Latur and Buldhana districts, with the Army and Air Force requested to render help as and when needed to assist the civil administration in tackling the flood situation in the state.

In Aurangabad, Cidco, ST Colony and some other areas were reeling under flood waters, with several shops and ground level houses under submerged in the waters. The situation is critical said Sambhaji Jadhav, a Municipal Corporation official said.

At least six people drowned and several others were missing after an overcrowded boat sank in a river in the northern Indian state of Haryana yesterday, news reports said. Six bodies were recovered while a search was on to find the others, PTI news agency reported quoting police officials.

It was not clear how many people were on the boat which sank in the River Yamuna near Ballabgarh town, about 30 kilometers southwest of Delhi. Four people swam to safety and had been admitted to a local hospital, the police said.

Another 16 people were reported killed in floods triggered by heavy monsoon rains in southern India yesterday, taking the toll in the past five days to 62, officials said.

The Godavari River in Andhra Pradesh rose 10 feet (three meters) above the danger mark. More than a dozen helicopters, naval boats, and many small mechanized boats were pressed into service to rescue people.

Meanwhile, in northern Jammu and Kashmir state, five people, including three soldiers, were washed away in flash floods in the Ladakh region Saturday, PTI news agency reported. Floods in Ladakh had washed away houses, bridges and roads, an army official said. He said a massive rescue and relief operation had been launched and army helicopters were being used to reach remore high-altitude villages.

More than 550 people have died in rain-related incidents in the country since the monsoons arrived in May.

— With input from agencies

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