The scenic Powai Lake in Mumbai overflowed on Wednesday morning following heavy rains in its catchment areas for the last two days, a civic official said.
As the rains flood Mumbai, disrupting the flow of life and the momentum of traffic in the city that never sleeps, Mumbaikars will be relieved to know that the Powai lake, which supplies some of the city's water needs, is overflowing.
Nearly 350 people were evacuated from Mumbai's Kurla area after the Mithi river swelled due to heavy rains. Authorities are monitoring the situation and working to ease the flow of water.
Heavy rains caused severe waterlogging, traffic jams, and disruptions to local train services in Mumbai. Schools and colleges were closed due to a 'red alert' issued by the IMD.
A video of a huge crocodile roaming a lakeside road on the IIT Bombay's Powai campus has sent shock waves. The reptile, prima facie came out from the Powai lake, and was seen resting on a nearby road on Sunday night. An animal rescuer said crocodiles crawling on the lake road is a rare occurrence given that they generally remain in the lake waters and avoid areas inhabited by humans. Founder president of RAWW (Resqink Association for Wildlife Welfare) and honorary wildlife warden Pawan Sharma said the crocodile might be a female searching a nesting site to lay eggs. Local people and officials ensured that the crocodile remained safe. "It crawled into the lake on its own," he added. The Mumbai Range of Thane Territorial Wing is closely monitoring the situation and appealed to people not to panic but to remain alert and avoid areas prone to the presence of crocodiles.
Across the nation, Lord Ganeshas large and small make their way to the sea, to lakes, ponds or man-made water bodies where the Visarjan ceremony takes place.
In view of the possible traffic snarls, as faithful throng roads in large numbers to witness the immersion processions, the city police will create a 'green corridor' for seamless movement of vehicles and connectivity between eastern and western suburbs, he said.
This is expected to bring relief to citizens facing 10 per cent water cut since the beginning of this month.
The India meteorological department's Mumbai centre has predicted heavy to very heavy rainfall in the city and suburbs in the next 24 hours, with a possibility of occasional gusty winds reaching 50-60 kmph, the official said.
In the wake of heavy rains over the last few days, the Tansa and Vihar lakes, the key sources of potable water for Mumbai, started overflowing on Wednesday, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde reviewed the rain situation on Tuesday and said over 3,500 people had been shifted to safer places from flood-prone and vulnerable spots across the state, where several districts, including Mumbai, experienced downpour.
According to the India Meteorological Department, as of 8.30 am on Sunday, Thane reported 28 cm of rain, Santacruz 20.1 cm, and Colaba 13 cm.
A Ganesh Nadar visited the Sanjay Gandhi National Park in Borivali, Mumbai and came away pleasantly surprised.
Low pressure over south-central Maharashtra and south Konkan is likely to move over the Arabian Sea and intensify into a depression in the next 48 hours, the India meteorological department said on Thursday. Under the influence of this cyclonic circulation, heavy rains are expected over the ghat areas of Maharashtra, Konkan and south Gujarat during the next two days, the IMD said.
Over 20,000 people were evacuated to safer places in these three districts. State capital Mumbai too witnessed water-logging in many areas after overnight rains on Thursday.
Lakhs of devotees came out in processions to immerse the Ganesha idols on the last day of the festival.
As many as 9,000 BMC employees will be working to oversee the immersion with 53 roads in the megapolis have been closed.
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The ten-day-long Ganesh Chaturthi culminated on Sunday as thousands of devotees immersed idols of the elephant-headed deity.
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