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Rains paralyse Mumbai, airport operations badly affected

Last Updated 20 September 2017, 14:33 IST
Heavy spells of intermittent rains accompanied by strong winds completely threw the normal life of Mumbai and its suburbs completely out of gear on Wednesday.

However, weathermen had made it clear that there was no cyclone over the Mumbai Metropolitan Region or Maharashtra.

The flight operations at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport in Mumbai continued to be affected because of various issues like heavy downpour, poor visibility conditions and one SpiceJet aircraft skidding and overshooting the main runway and getting stuck into the mid.

There were 183 persons including crew members on board, however, all were safe.

The main runway is expected to return to normalcy late Wednesday. As many as 120 flights were cancelled and more than 50 were diverted to other airports during the day.  "The NOTAM (notice to airmen) for the closure of the main runway has been extended till 0600 hrs Thursday," an official of Mumbai International Airport Ltd said.

This is the biggest disruption at the Mumbai airport in a decade's time.

Several low-lying areas in central Mumbai like Parel, Dadar and some areas of the suburbs like Chembur, Kurla, Andheri, Malad, Borivali, Dahisar experienced water-logging, slowing down the traffic on the roads.

The services of the Central Railway and Western Railway were delayed by 15 minutes to 30 minutes. The road traffic was badly affected and it was difficult for commuters to reach stations and take the train for workplaces. The worst was Nalasopara station in the western suburbs where a video of a mail train passing though platform level water went viral.

"On Tuesday night the trains were crowded and delayed. Someone I reached Bhayender around 11 pm and then walked home which took me another hour," said Debasish Saha, who a resident of western suburbs. "In the morning, there was no scope of going to the station as there was waterlogging in our area," said Nabendu Bhowmick, a Vasai resident.

“The situation is not as it was last month. We have worked on a plan and ensured that people are safe and not put to inconvenience,” said Mumbai mayor Prof Vishwanath Mahadeshwar.

Sensing problem, the Maharashtra government closed the schools and colleges in Mumbai and suburbs for the day.

The attendance at offices and workplaces was thin as people preferred

Besides the MMR, the entire coastal Konkan belt and the Sahyadri ranges got good rainfall.

The big towns of Pune and Nashik and along with MMR forms Golden Triangle too received heavy rainfall in the last 24 hours.

At least, six major dams’ catchment area received good rainfall and gates had to be opened – Koyna (Satara), Radhanagari (Kolhapur), Dhamni (Palghar), Khadakvasla (Pune) and Gangapur (Nashik).

Reports from Pune said that the Bhide Pul was under water and several two-wheelers and four-wheelers were affected by inundation.

In Nashik, the Ramkund area, which is an important place of Hindu pilgrimage, temples could be seen submerged under waters.

The Mumbai region continued to get heavy rainfall. In the last 24 hours ending 0830 hrs, the Colaba observatory recorded 210 mm rainfall while Santacruz recorded 304 mm rainfall, according to the Mumbai-based Regional Meteorological Centre of the IMD.

Counting on these hefty showers, Mumbai city has exceeded its monthly average rainfall that stands at a good 312.3 mm, according to Skymet Weather, the private weather forecast agency. And till date, the city of dreams has recorded 538.4 mm of rains which is almost double the average rainfall for the month of September.


Rainfall figures higher than what Mumbai saw last month

The rainfall figures are higher than what Mumbai recorded a fortnight ago on 29 August.  On Tuesday and Wednesday, in a matter from 24 hours, Andheri recorded 334 mm rainfall. On 29 August, 303 mm rainfall was recorded at Santacruz. This was, however, far less than 26 July 2005 deluge when Mumbai recorded 900 mm rainfall in 12 hours. In one compares the 29 August and 19 September figures – the city was ion a better position because of the lessons learnt. On the previous occasion, the CR and WR stopped for 19 hours and 4.30 hours, however this time, there was a delay of 15 to 20 minutes.

Good rains across state, dams opened

Across Maharashtra, Dahanu recorded the highest rainfall of 305 mm, Mumbai 304 mm, Mahabaleshwar 248 mm, Harnai 222 mm, Thane 151 mm, Bhira 137 mm, Alibag 128.2 mm, Ratnagiri 110 mm, Gondia 50 mm, Satara 37 mm, Pune 30 mm, Nashik 20 mm, Kolhapur 15 mm, Aurangabad and Nagpur 7.6 mm. At least, six major dams' catchment area received good rainfall and gates had to be opened – Koyna (Satara), Radhanagari (Kolhapur), Dhamni (Palghar), Khadakvasla (Pune) and Gangapur (Nashik). Reports from Pune said that the Bhide Pul was under water and several two-wheelers and four-wheelers were affected by inundation.
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(Published 20 September 2017, 11:28 IST)

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