Heavy rains lash Mumbai, other districts; road cave-in hits traffic on Ahmedabad-bound highway

Mumbai and its neighbouring areas received heavy rains in the last 24 hours, bringing down the mercury and providing relief to residents from the hot and humid weather, officials said on Sunday.

Due to the heavy showers, a part of the road in neighbouring Palghar district of Maharashtra caved-in, affecting traffic movement on the busy Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway for more than four hours on Sunday morning, they said.

Repair works, including of a pipeline, were in progress when a portion of the road in Maljipada area of Palghar caved-in due to heavy rains, an official from the police control room said.

Traffic came to a standstill and movement on both sides of the road was disrupted, he said.

Some people held up in the traffic jam since 5.30 am on Sunday claimed no agency was attending to the problem.

Various other districts of Maharashtra, including Thane, Nashik, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Ahmednagar, Satara and Jalgaon, also received good showers in the last one day.

In the 24-hour period ending at 8.30 am on Sunday, Mumbai received more than 60 mm of rainfall.

The Colaba observatory, situated in south Mumbai where most of the state government's administrative offices are located, recorded 67 mm rainfall, while the Santacruz observatory, near the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport, recorded 64 mm downpour in the same period, as per the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

The Colaba observatory recorded a maximum temperature of 34.8 degrees Celsius, 1.1 degrees higher than normal, while the minimum temperature was 24.3 degrees Celsius, 2.9 degrees lower than normal, it said.

A drop in the minimum temperature indicates nights getting cooler.

The Santacruz observatory recorded a maximum temperature of 36.4 degrees Celsius, 1.6 degrees more than normal, while the minimum temperature was 25.5 degrees Celsius, 1.9 degrees less than normal, as per the IMD.

Some of the agriculturally important districts like Satara recorded 91 mm rain in the last one day, Nashik 64 mm, Ahmednagar 57 mm, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar 51 mm and Jalgaon 41 mm, according to an IMD report.

Thane and Palghar districts also witnessed heavy rains overnight, leading to water-logging in some areas, officials said on Sunday.

There were reports of tree branches falling in some areas of Thane city, they said.

In the 24-hour period ending at 8.30 am on Sunday, Thane city received 37.06 mm rainfall.

The maximum downpour of 16.76 mm was recorded between 12.30 am and 1.30 am on Sunday while 10.93 mm rain was witnessed between 3.30 and 4.30 am, Thane Municipal Corporation's disaster management cell chief Yasin Tadvi said.

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