A high tide is forecast later in the day and heavy to very heavy rains are likely to lash Konkan and Central Maharashtra regions in the next 24 to 48 hours.
“The suburban services on Up and Down slow lines have been suspended between Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) and Thane due to waterlogging at Sion, Masjid and Sandhurst Road stations because of continuous heavy rain,” a Central Railway spokesman said.
“The main area of waterlogging was reported near Sion station where tracks were submerged upto 5-7 inches and to avoid any untoward incident, the train operations were halted between CST and Thane stations,” he said. The train services came to a halt at around 11.30 am and the operations resumed at 12.05 pm, he said.
The spokesman also said that motormen have been instructed to move at restricted speed owing to waterlogging of the tracks. Since the train services have been hampered, the suburban passengers have been permitted to board long distance trains between CST and Kalyan stretch, CR PRO A K Singh said.
BMC’s Deputy Municipal Commissioner (GAD) Sudhir Naik said since this morning over 100 mm rain has been reported so far.
Municipal Commissioner Ajoy Mehta was monitoring the situation in view of the heavy downpour.
“There were reports of waterlogging at Hindmata and Gandhi Market in Sion, but pumps were in operation to flush out the water from there,” he said.
The trains on the Central Line were running late by 30 to 40 minutes while on the Western Line, the suburban trains were delayed by 10 to 20 minutes, he said. An official from IMD, Mumbai region, said,
“There could be heavy to very heavy rains in Konkan region in coming 48 hours while central Maharashtra region can witness heavy to very heavy rain in next 24 hours”.
During the last 24 hours, several areas in the state received heavy rains - Mahabaleshwar (159.6 mm), Radhanagari in Kolhapur (128.0) mm, Poladpur in Raigad (84mm), Matheran (72mm), Ratnagiri (71.8 mm) and Harnai weather station recorded 81.7 mm rainfall.
Mahad bridge collapse: 3 more bodies spotted
Three more bodies were on Friday spotted in the Savitri River even as incessant rains hampered the search operations launched after two buses and some private vehicles were swept away following collapse of a British-era bridge near Mahad in Raigad district.
With this, the total number of deceased in the mishap has gone up to 17.
“Till last night we had fished out 14 bodies. The search teams this morning have spotted three more bodies,” Raigad Additional Superintendent of Police Sanjay Patil said. Efforts are on to fish out the three bodies, he said.
“Whenever our team gets the bodies out from the river, they are sent to local hospital for postmortem and then we hand over them to the kin after following the laid down procedures,” Patil said.
He said apart from 20 boats and nearly 160 personnel from Coast Guard, NDRF, Navy roped-in the search operation, the district administration was also taking help of local fishermen who have knowledge about the river’s topography.
The local police were providing all logistical and technical support to the jawans in the search, he said.
Another senior police official, who was present at the spot, said some of the bodies traced so far were recovered as far as about 120 kms from the mishap site.
He said the search operation will continue till the remains of buses and other four-wheelers are found.
“That is why we have extended the area of search operation and alerted local residents who live alongside the Savitri River and appealed them to inform us, if they spot anything afloat in the water,” he said. He, however, said the incessant rains were hampering the pace of search operation.