Mumbai: After a brief dry spell, Mumbai and its suburbs were lashed by heavy showers that began on Monday night, with the city experiencing continued rainfall on Wednesday. The morning brought breezy weather and overcast skies, accompanied by light drizzles. However, by the evening, heavy rains along with lightning and thunderstorms caused significant waterlogging and traffic disruptions across the city.
The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) had earlier issued a yellow alert for Mumbai, predicting heavy to very heavy rainfall. However, this was later upgraded to a red alert as rains intensified. From 5:30 PM on Wednesday, districts including Thane, Mumbai, and Raigad were placed under red alert, with the IMD warning of extremely heavy rainfall, thunderstorms, lightning, and gusty winds at isolated locations. This red alert will remain in effect until 8:30 AM on Thursday, after which it will be downgraded to an orange alert.
Other districts such as Dhule, Nandurbar, and Pune are also under an orange alert, anticipating heavy to very heavy rainfall.
IMD Chief Sunil Kamble told the Free Press Journal’ “We had notified that rainfall would intensify, prompting us to change the orange alert to red for Mumbai and surrounding districts. On September 26, we expect the city to experience reduced rainfall compared to Wednesday, with a further decrease by Thursday. The trough over North Konkan is causing convective thunderstorm activity and heavy rainfall in parts of Maharashtra over the next two days."
The downpour resulted in waterlogged streets in several areas, including Mulund, where vehicles were damaged, and the Andheri subway was closed to traffic. Other areas affected by waterlogging included Bhandup, Dahisar East, and Borivali West, with vehicles submerged in some locations.
According to the BMC's rainfall data, between 8:00 AM and 6:00 PM on September 25, the city recorded the following rainfall:
- Mumbai City: 8.30 mm
- Eastern Suburbs: 28.31 mm
- Western Suburbs: 8.11 mm
Between 6:00 PM and 7:00 PM, heavy rainfall was recorded in:
- Colaba: 37 mm
- Wadala: 31 mm
- Byculla: 28 mm
- Nariman Point: 23 mm
Heavy rains worsened the city's situation, further choking roads that were already waterlogged from Wednesday evening.
According to the Mumbai Traffic Police, major traffic disruptions were reported on Lal Bahadur Shastri (LBS) Marg in Kurla and Ghatkopar. Being a low-lying area, Kurla experienced significant waterlogging, particularly near Sahara Hotel, Kurla Depot, and Phoenix Mall Road.
Police officials stated that traffic from the Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) Connector was exacerbating the congestion in Kurla, leading to temporary route diversions as a precautionary measure.
In Ghatkopar, the road outside R City Mall was heavily jammed, with both motorists and pedestrians expressing frustration over the chaos, citing the absence of traffic police to manage the situation. “We couldn’t cross the road, vehicles were stuck for over 45 minutes, and yet no traffic police showed up. It was some auto drivers who stepped out to guide the vehicles and help resume traffic movement,” said Shikha Bakshi, a Ghatkopar resident and student.
Vishal Jaiswal, a motorist stuck in traffic on Ghatkopar’s LBS Marg for nearly 40 minutes, shared his frustration: “After finally crossing Ghatkopar, I reached Vikhroli (LBS), only to be stuck again for another 50 minutes. In total, it took me 2.5 hours to travel from Kurla to Vikhroli via LBS, a route that usually takes just 30 minutes.”
In South Mumbai (SoBo), police reported traffic disruptions at Bhatia Bagh, CSMT Junction, BMC Palika Road, GPO Junction, and Avatar Singh Bedi Chowk—areas that connect to P. D’Mello Road, leading towards the Eastern Freeway and Atal Setu Bridge (MTHL).
Traffic was moving slowly due to the rain and waterlogging, police said, while low visibility added to the delays on the Freeway. “Motorists tend to drive slowly in low-visibility conditions, which is recommended. As a result, traffic slows down, but once the rain stops, the movement picks up pace,” said a traffic police official from the Azad Maidan division.
Motorists in South Mumbai, particularly in areas like Cuffe Parade, Breach Candy, and Colaba, raised concerns about traffic signals being switched to manual mode. During heavy rains, VVIP movements, or traffic backlogs, the traffic police deactivate the automatic system and manage the signals manually from control rooms. The lights and timers are controlled based on the traffic flow at each junction.
However, motorists expressed frustration with this system. “At Breach Candy, they kept turning off the signal every 5-6 seconds, causing a huge traffic queue. The traffic personnel were standing in the rain, trying to manage the flow. Automatic signals are far more efficient than putting the police through this, which isn’t effective either,” said one motorist.
Similar situations were reported in Bandra and BKC. The Mumbai Traffic Police (MTP) tweeted, “Traffic on both southbound and northbound routes in Bandra and BKC is moving slowly due to heavy rains.” Office-goers, both in private and public vehicles, reported being stuck in BKC traffic for hours. Sundarajan Pillai, a Tilak Nagar resident who works at an IT company in BKC, shared his experience: “I left the office around 6:45 pm, managed to board a bus by 7:15 pm, and by 8:05 pm, I was still stuck in BKC. I kept asking the bus conductor, but even he had no idea what was going on!”
Severe waterlogging was reported in several areas of Mumbai due to heavy rains. In SEEPZ MIDC, water levels reached knee-high, causing significant disruption, while outside Kanjur Marg station, vehicles were submerged in water. Kurla bus stand, particularly on the road towards the station's west side, was also flooded, forcing pedestrians to navigate through the water.
Heavy waterlogging at Saki Naka junction on the Ghatkopar-Andheri Link Road left people wading through waist-high waters as vehicles broke down, half-submerged. The Link Road faced massive traffic congestion, with waterlogging cutting off key connectivity routes.
Till 10 pm on Wednesday, Sewri Koliwada Municipal School recorded 147.8 mm, Wadala Fire Station 146.56 mm, and Pratiksha Nagar Municipal School in Sion 142.6 mm. In the western suburbs, the highest rainfall was at Hinduhridaysamrat Balasaheb Thackeray Hospital with 190.8 mm, followed by Marol Fire Station at 176.27 mm.
Meanwhile, in the eastern suburbs, Mankhurd Fire Station saw a staggering 276.2 mm of rainfall, with Nutan Vidya Mandir and Paspoli Powai Municipal School recording 275 mm and 274.2 mm, respectively. The heavy downpour led to significant waterlogging and disruptions across the city.
