Heavy rains pound Mumbai; normal life, rail traffic hit hard
Mumbai: Overnight heavy rains in Mumbai and its adjoining areas crippled normal life and disrupted rail and air traffic on Sunday morning.
Amidst the heavy downpour which continued to pound the city and its neighbouring areas, a 16-year-old boy was washed away in flood in the adjoining Palghar district, an official said.
Mumbai woke up to heavy downpour for the second day in a row, with no immediate respite likely as the weather office here predicted more showers throughout the day.
According to the city civic body, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast intermittent rain with heavy to very heavy showers in the city and suburbs and extremely heavy rain at isolated places in next 24 hours.
The city, its neighbouring Thane and Palghar districts and Navi Mumbai town were witnessing incessant rains since last two days and a number of incidents of tree fall were reported from there, an official said.
In the last 24 hours, the city received 100 mm rain while the suburbs, Thane and Navi Mumbai got more than 250 mm downpour, IMD's deputy director K S Hosalikar said.
Being a Sunday, most of the office-goers were spared of hardships caused by the suspension of local train services on various routes.
Due to the accumulation of water on tracks at a few sections following heavy and continuous rains, the Central Railway's services on the Main Line and Harbour Line between the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (in Mumbai) and Karjat, Kasaraand Khopoli were suspended since 8 am, its chief spokesman Sunil Udasi said.
"This has been done as a precautionary measure to avoid hardships to commuters later...the situation will be reviewed every hour," he said.
However, the train services on Trans-Harbour Line and fourth corridor of Kharkopar was running normally, he said.
Due to water-logging and crashing of boulders between Karjat (located in neighbouring Raigad district) and Lonavala hill town (in Pune district) in the Western Ghats section, several Mumbai-bound trains were terminated, diverted or cancelled, an official at the CR control room said.
The rail route from Pune to Mumbai was also closed, he added.
Besides local trains, some long distance trains like Duranto, Konark Express, Amritsar Express and Devgiri Express were stuck near Igatpuri (in Nashik district), and Aatgaon and Khardi near Kalyan, another Central Railway official said.
A Mumbai airport spokesperson said two incoming flights were diverted and six had to make a go around due to the heavy rains.
In Palghar, heavy rains led to water levels rising over tracks in some sections, leading to suspension of train services between Vasai and Virar towns, a Western Railway official said.
All Mail and Express trains were stopped on the Western line due to flooding on tracks near Nalasopara, he said. However, trains were moving on the Vasai-Churchgate and Virar-Dadar sections, he added.
A 16-year-old boy was feared drowned after he was swept away in the flood in Vikaramgadh taluka of Palghar on Saturday, a district official said, adding that a search was on to trace him.
According to Hosalikar, heavy rains will continue to lash Mumbai during the day. "Rainfall to continue with gusty winds. High tide of 4.5 m plus today afternoon, and surcharged Mithi river....
Avoid outing as far as possible. Sea will be rough, fisherman warnings, heavy rainfall warnings in place. Watch for IMD weather updates please," he said in a tweet.
Some residents were evacuated from areas around the Mithi river, the BMC said in a statement.
Food packets and water were provided to all at the relief camp, it added.
The Thane district administration also asked residents of villages located on the banks of Barvi and Ulhas rivers to shift to safer places as there was flooding in those areas due to release of water from the Barvi dam.
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Real Madrid fines Valverde and Tchouaméni half a million euros each for altercation
Barcelona (AP): Real Madrid slapped players Federico Valverde and Aurélien Tchouaméni with half-a-million-euro ($588,000) fines on Friday for their altercation during practice.
The massive fines came a day after the midfielders tussled when the team trained. Valverde said in a post on social media on Thursday that no punches were thrown. But Valverde knocked his head on a table and he suffered a small cut that required a brief hospital visit.
On social media, Valverde initially called it a “meaningless fight” with a teammate and said “everything has been blown out of proportion."
His employers, however, considered it a significant enough breach of team discipline to nail both Valverde and Tchouaméni with fines that bite even the bank account of a top soccer player. The half-a-million euro penalties reflect the reputational damage the club was enduring in a chaotic end to a disappointing season.
In a statement, the 15-time European champion said its disciplinary action was concluded after both players expressed to the club “their complete remorse for what happened and apologized to one another.”
Madrid added they also apologized to their teammates, the coaching staff and club supporters, as well as showing their willingness to accept whatever disciplinary action the club deemed “opportune.”
Tchouaméni was back training with Madrid on Friday, two days before they play at Barcelona in a clasico. Madrid has to win otherwise Barcelona will be crowned La Liga champion.
After being notified of the fine, he posted a public apology to the club and its fans on social media.
“What happened this week in training is unacceptable,” Tchouaméni wrote. "I say this while thinking about the example we are expected to set for young people, whether in football or at school.
“Above all, I am sorry for the image we projected of the club.”
Valverde was not at practice due to the head knock.
Both players are set to play in the World Cup next month, with Tchouaméni playing for France and Valverde for Uruguay.
Chaotic end to a poor season
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The run-in between the players, who for seasons have played side by side in Madrid's midfield, came after they argued this week in previous training sessions. But tempers boiled over on Thursday. Spanish media was rife with reports that the players previously disagreed over the club's decision to let coach Xabi Alonso go after just months on the job.
It was not the only altercation involving Madrid players during training this week. Álvaro Carreras confirmed he was in a “minor” incident with a teammate. Spanish media said he and fellow defender Antonio Rüdiger got into a scuffle.
Álvaro Arbeloa, the coach who was promoted from Madrid's reserve team when Alonso was fired in January, will face tough questions on what went wrong inside the changing room when he gives a press conference on Saturday ahead of the clasico at Camp Nou.
Madrid is facing a second consecutive campaign without a major trophy amid rumors in the Spanish media that club president Florentino Pérez is considering bringing back Jose Mourinho to straighten out his underperforming team.
