Mumbai limping back to normalcy

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Last updated on: July 28, 2005 11:40 IST

Hit by the century's heaviest rainfall, Mumbai was on Thursday slowly limping back to normalcy with rail and road links partially restored while rescue operations in the landslide-affected Jui in Raigad district and other parts of Maharashtra continued on a large scale as the death toll in the state crossed 200, the police said.

Long distance train services were yet to resume, but suburban locals on the Western Railway route were running between Churchgate and Virar.

On the Central Railway route, the trains were moving between Thane and Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, a railway spokesman said. The Harbour section was operational between CST and Kurla, he added.

The city airport was 'partially operational' and four aircraft, including three with relief material, landed on Thursday.

Meanwhile, rains continued to lash Konkan and other parts of the state and weather bureau has forecast heavy rainfall for the next 24 hours.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will undertake an aerial survey of Thane, Raigad and other affected areas to take stock of the situation. 

Water levels receded in several low-lying areas of the city enabling vehicles to ply on the roads. Vehicular movement was restored on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway.

However, Mumbai-Goa, Mumbai-Nasik and Mumbai-Pune highways remained blocked following traffic congestion due to waterlogging at certain points, the police said.

Rescue work in the worst-affected Jui village in Konkan, where 20 houses were crushed under boulders in a landslide and 100 were feared killed, was in full swing. Army and navy teams reached there in boats to help in the rescue operations.

In Saki Naka area of Mumbai, where 45 people died in a massive landslide, rescue operations were still on. About 135 hutments were crushed under boulders following a landslide on Wednesday, police said.

In two more incidents on Wednesday, 10 people were buried alive in a landslide at Mumbra in Thane district and seven were feared killed in another landslide in Bhiwandi, the police said.

 

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