Heavy rains lashed Mumbai city throughout Friday night, inundating several low-lying areas, especially in the western suburbs.

About 500 families have been shifted to safer places.

Life was limping back to normal after the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation pumped out water from several low-lying areas like Bhandup, Kurla, Andheri, Bandra, Goregaon, Dahisar and Jogeshwari on Friday.

Suburban trains on Central Railway and Western Railway were running late by half an hour to 45 minutes, railway officials said, adding that traffic on Central Railway had come to a halt in the early hours of Saturday due to waterlogging, especially at Bhandup, delaying suburban trains and the long distance trains.

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Mumbai was battered by the century's heaviest rains at the end of July bringing the city to a standstill for two days with more than 400 people dead due to rain-related incidents.

Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh said there was no need to panic and that BMC and other agencies had been keeping a vigil throughout.

After the July 26 deluge, the agencies were kept on alert for any emergency situation, he said.

BMC Commissioner Johny Joseph said about 500 families have been evacuated to safer places from the low-lying areas of Parel, Ghatkopar and Kurla.

The weather bureau said the rainfall recorded for the last 24 hours ending at 8.30 AM Saturday was 217 millimetres of which about 200 millimetres was recorded within a span of a few hours on Friday afternoon. Heavy to very heavy rains are expected in many parts of the city in the next 24 hours, weather bureau sources in Mumbai said.

• Complete coverage: The July 26 deluge