THANE, May 8 -- Heavy rains continued to lash the Mumbai Metropolitan Region on Wednesday, claiming one life: that of 27-year-old Taufiq Saudagar who died when a Gulmohar tree fell on his moving rickshaw in Thane. "Efforts to remove the fallen tree are currently underway," said Yasin Tadvi, a Regional Disaster Management Committee officer. On Tuesday night in Kalyan's Chinchpada area, another Gulmohar tree fell on a moving autorickshaw amid heavy rain, killing the driver and two passengers. Both incidents raise serious concerns about urban tree maintenance and public safety, especially during the monsoon. According to the fire department, heavy rainfall and thunderstorms in the Vasai-Virar region saw at least 41 trees being uprooted, and damaging roads and structures. Twelve tree branches fell in the city and one in the eastern suburbs. Apart from this, parts or entire structures of 72 houses collapsed. In the 24 hours ending at 8.30pm on Wednesday, Mumbai received 1.8mm rain at Santacruz weather station and 3 mm at the Colaba weather station. Wind speeds ranged between 50 and 60 kmph with thunderstorms. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) extended the yellow alert-which indicates light to moderate rains-till Thursday for Mumbai. "After this, the western disturbance in the low levels of the atmosphere is expected to subside," said Sushma Nair, scientist, IMD. The morning saw thunderstorms and lightning accompanied by heavy rain in Borivali and Dahisar. By evening, Prabhadevi, BKC, Powai, Mulund, Vasai, Virar and Mumbra were drenched. Many areas, including the Santacruz-Chembur Link Road, were waterlogged. Services on Western Railway were disrupted for almost 30 minutes on account of a large piece of cloth that fluttered down on the overhead equipment (OHE) and cable between Churchgate and Marine Lines stations at 4.25pm, interrupting the power supply. By the time this was rectified, a tree branch fell on the OHE cable at Mahalaxmi, which took 20-25 minutes to remove, causing Borivali and Virar-bound trains to run at delays of 10 -12 minutes....