Respite in rains since Thursday night in Mumbai and several parts of Maharashtra has brought relief to the people, while authorities continued efforts to bring normalcy to rail and road traffic.

However, Nagpur region continued to receive widespread rainfall with the city recording 39.6 mm rainfall during last 24 hours ending 0830 hrs.

Respite in the downpour brought relief to harassed long-distance rail commuters, as most of the scheduled trains, on Central as well as Western line leaving and arriving on time, railway sources said.

"Except for the LTT-Manmad Express, that was cancelled, most of the trains began plying today," they said. Suburban trains on both Western and Central sections were operating normally.

The weather bureau has predicted moderate rain showers in the city and adjoining areas in the next 24 hours.

Respite in rains allowed authorities to mount relief works in Nasik and other parts of the district, official sources said, adding Godavari river continued to be in spate following rains during the week.

Meanwhile, water level at Gangapur dam has risen to 6042 mcft, while it was 6409 mcft at Darna. The Nandurmadhmesdwar dam is overflowing, sources said.

Girna dam was filled up to 28.36 per cent of its capacity, while water from 41 gates of Hatnur dam was being released as it had reached danger mark. Authories have alerted people living on banks of rivers, as Tapi was in spate.

Though traffic between Igatpuri and Kasara sections of Central Railway, which was blocked due to landslide, was restored, trains were plying only on one line.

The work on the remaining two tracks was continuing and will be restored as soon as possible, Nashik Road station manager D S Rathore told PTI.

Major national highways, which had witnessed bottlenecks during last three days following heavy downpour and boulders obstructing roads, were also cleared for traffic.

However, Kasara section of Agra-Mumbai road in Nashik district, which was blocked following landslide yesterday, continued to be closed for vehicular traffic, state traffic control sources said here, adding it was expected to be reopened by evening today.

Two out of four lanes of Mumbai-Pune Expressway are currently operational, they said. Traffic, they added, on all the four lanes is expected to be restored by today.

Incessant rains claimed one life in Jalgaon. Sahebrao Manaku Patil (55) was washed away by floods at Kasarkheda village in the district on Wednesday and his body was found at Utwad village yesterday.

Pune division -- comprising Pune, Satara, Kolhapur, Ahmednagar, Solapur and Sangli -- also experienced considerable fall in the intensity of rains, with only Dudhganga in Kolhapur receiving the highest 155mm during the past 24 hours ending 8.30 am today, official sources said.

However, following continuous rains in the past several days, about 1200 cusecs of water was being released from the Khadakvasala dam near here since 2 am today, according to irrigation department deputy executive engineer Rakesh Galiyal.