Mumbai Monsoons - Day 1 - Update

A little more than 200 mm of rains and here goes the official count (Excerpts from another blogger who really loves his city)

Western Railways – 19 trains cancelled. Trains are running between 5 to 35 minutes late. The WR PRO says “The problem was in the Goregaon-Malad stretch”.

Central Railways – Trains were running 40 minutes late after being stalled between 6.40PM and 7.30 PM as lightening struck an overhead equipment wire between Ghatkopar and Kurla.

Roads – Water-logging at let's see - Grant Road, Goregaon, Bhandup, Vidyavihar, Ulhasnagar, Thane, Ghatkopar, Andheri, S. V. Road at Khar and Santacruz, LBS Marg, Kurla, Hindmata Dadar, Subways at Malad and Santacruz. And of course, flooding in Goregaon, Jogeshwari and Kandivali. I guess that is a lot of Mumbai for one day.

Mohan Kadam (Chief Engineer, Roads) says “If we get a dry spell, we will open all these stretches to traffic within a day or two”. Within a day or two? I guess he meant within an hour or two - Either that or I assume he has gone bonkers.

BMC Commissioner Johnny Joseph says this was more or less expected from the first flush of the monsoon. "Once we clear this up, the drains will work smoothly.” He also mentioned in passing that "the city’s drainage system was equipped only for rainfall of one inch per hour". Whom is he kidding? What are we supposed to do once rain goes beyond that level? Boating? Rafting? Ne more ideas? I am sure Parate would have a great time.

But all said and done, at least Mumbai has more than its fair share of movie theatres, bars, eating joints, hotels (and not just restaurants, mind you) and the likes. In that sense, at least, it is no Rajkot. You might want to check out http://pushkarsblog.blogspot.com for further details.