Mumbai, Aug 5 (IANS): At least four persons were killed and one went missing in Mumbai and Thane as heavy rain clobbered the country's commercial capital since Monday night with the state government declaring a holiday in the city and the Mumbai Metropolitan Region areas, officials said here on Tuesday.

The day was marked with flooding in several parts of the city, a major landslide on the Western Express Highway, an incident of a double house crash, over 100 trees crashing and several emergency incidents of electric short-circuits.

In the double house crash incident in Santacruz, Rekha M. Kakade and her 18-month old infant daughter Jahnavi were washed away and drowned in a swollen drain.

Another daughter Shivanya was rescued safely but a third daughter is still missing, said BMC Disaster Control.

Rakib A. Mandal, 15, was electrocuted and died on the spot when he came in contact with a live wire of street light on Ghodbunder Road in Thane, while a man was washed away in the floods in Navi Mumbai, said the local police.

Mumbai city recorded 25.2 cms while the suburbs notched 26.8 cms of rain in the past 24 hours, throwing normal life out of gear in Mumbai, Thane, Palghar and Raigad (the MMR areas), and catching commuters unaware.

The Central Railway's Harbour Line was stopped from the Kurla-Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus and trains crawled on the main lines, but the Western Railway suspended services between Bandra-Churchgate, owing to flooding in Dadar and surrounding areas. After rains subsided in the afternoon, all train services resumed normal operations.

Road traffic was badly hit in the city and the entire MMR region with the BEST diverting its buses on at least 25 routes all over the city, including Dadar, Kings Circle, Parel, Wadala, Chembur, Kurla, Sion and Bandra owing to waterlogging in these areas.

A massive landslide on the Western Express Highway between Kandivali-Malad paralyzed south-bound traffic at dawn on Tuesday, but there were no casualties.

Soon afterwards, the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation deployed six JCBs to start work of clearing the debris, stones and the highway is likely to be cleared for operations soon.

BMC Commissioner I.S. Chahal, accompanied by top officials P. Velrasu, Chandrashekhar Chore, Sanjay Rathod and others went around various flooded spots in south Mumbai and supervised the anti-flooding operations undertaken.

Homes or shops were flooded in slums or low-lying areas in the suburbs of Malad, Kurla, Ghatkopar, Parel with people struggling to save their valuable belongings from the water.

Flooding was reported in Dadar, Prabhadevi, Bhendi Bazaar, Sir J.J. Hospital Junction, Kurla, Chembur, Tilak Nagar, Sion, Wadala, Mankhurd, Bandra, Andheri, Kandivali and other parts.

The Mithi River was swollen at Dahisar, Borivali, Kandivali and Goreagaon and running above the danger level, forcing many on their banks to evacuate their dwellings with the authorities remaining alert for any eventuality.

The main subways in Khar, Andheri, Malad and Dahisar were also flooded and all vehicular traffic stopped on both sides.

The Mumbai-Ahmedabad Highway, the old Mumbai-Pune highway, major or arterial roads in Mumbai, Thane, Palghar and Raigad were heavily waterlogged or flooded, stranding many vehicles in 3-4 feet deep waters, and causing traffic snarls.

The IMD has forecast spells of more heavy to very heavy rainfall in the city and surroundings over the next 24 hours, besides a high tide with a swell of 3.98 metres early on Wednesday.