by admin | May 25, 2021 | News
Mumbai : The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast “heavy to very heavy rains” in entire coastal Konkan region of Maharashtra, including Mumbai, here on Wednesday.
“Heavy to very heavy rainfall likely to occur… with extremely heavy at isolated places in districts of North Konkan, from today morning,” an IMD bulletin said.
Similar wet conditions were likely to prevail in the Konkan districts of Palghar, Thane, Mumbai, Raigad, Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg till Saturday.
Besides Konkan, heavy rains were expected in central Maharashtra and Marathwada region, in neighbouring states of Goa and Gujarat’s Kutchh and Saurashtra regions, starting from Wednesday and continuing till Sunday, according to the IMD.
Mumbai attempted to limp back to normalcy after Tuesday’s deluge with the suburban trains on the Western Railway resuming operations, the Central Railway mainline and Harbour Line which re-started services continued to be erratic.
On Tuesday, entire Mumbai was inundated with heavy rains with the suburbs notching a staggering 316 mm in a 12-hour cycle — the highest record since the great Mumbai floods of July 26, 2005, which was coincidentally a Tuesday.
In the 24-hour cycle since Tuesday 8.30 a.m. till Wednesday, the suburbs recorded 332 mm while the city notched 111 mm rains, the IMD said.
The state government has declared a holiday for all schools and colleges in Mumbai on Wednesday and advised people to step out only if absolutely necessary.
With forecast of more heavy rains, the state government staff have also been told to take it easy and reach their offices if possible or take the day off.
On Tuesday, several millions of commuters and students were stranded all over Mumbai after getting caught in the sudden heavy downpour which started 11 a.m. onwards.
The situation was compounded with snags in mobile services and power being switched off as a precautionary measure by Reliance Energy in many parts of the suburbs.
Reliance Energy had deployed pumps to remove flood waters from sub-stations, 250 field teams and boats were on standby for emergencies and restored supplies later as water levels receded.
In a humanitarian gesture, many temples, gurudwaras, mosques, madrassas, dargahs, churches, sanatorium and rest houses were thrown open to the masses all over the city and its outskirts to feed and house the stranded.
Much later in the night, even the Shiv Sena and Bharatiya Janata Party and other party activists also joined in the relief efforts.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
By Quaid Najmi,
Mumbai : Torrential rains lashed Mumbai, Thane, Palghar, Raigad and other parts of Maharashtra for the fourth consecutive day on tuesday, severely affecting normal life and paralysing the lifelines — local train and bus services — in the state capital and leading the state government and civic authorities to sound a high alert.
Expressing concern over the rain situation in Mumbai, Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged the people of the state to “stay safe” and take all essential precautions while speaking to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to take stock of the developments.
“The centre assures all possible support to the Maharashtra Government in mitigating the situation due to heavy rains in parts of the state,” Modi said in a series of tweets.
The BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said that in one hour, Mumbai recorded a staggering 70 mm rainfall, while it touched 100 mm between 8.30 a.m. and 1 p.m.
Giving the figures till 3 p.m., the BMC said Mumbai received 106 mm rainfall in about six hours, while the eastern suburbs got 78.5 mm and the western suburbs notched 85 mm during the same period.
The state government has requisitioned the services of five disaster management teams, including three from Pune, and a holiday has been declared for all college and schools on Wednesday, said Education Minister Vinod Tawde.
The India Meteorological Department has forecast aceheavy to very heavy rains” for Mumbai and entire Konkan region during the next 24 hours owing to a “low pressure” area over south Gujarat-Madhya Pradesh, which was expected to be upgraded to a “deep depression”.
The BMC appealed to people not to step out of their home unless absolutely necessary, while the entire civic force — Mumbai Police, Fire Brigade and other agencies — were on high alert to combat the situation.
Since Tuesday morning, many parts of Mumbai and suburbs were inundated with up to three to four feet of water on the highways, main and arterial roads, bylanes, housing complexes, railway stations and even the Mumbai Airport.
However even with more than 180 trees and half a dozen walls collapsing in different parts of the city, flooding and waterlogging, there were no casualties.
Around 6.30 a.m. the rains triggered a landslide in adjoining Thane district, leading to derailment of 10 coaches of the Nagpur-Mumbai Duronto Express but there were no casualties.
The torrential rains have hit the immersion ceremonies on the fifth day of the Ganeshotsav on Tuesday, with many marquees deciding to postpone it by two days.
Suburban local trains were massively hit with disruption in services due to flooding on the railway tracks at several places.
The Central Railway mainline was completely suspended for over four hours, Harbour Line was completely down, the Western Railway worked slowly and erratically, besides disruptions on the Konkan Railway.
Lakhs of commuters including students, were stranded in trains, railway stations or at bus stops. Many failed to reach their destinations and were compelled to return to their homes on foot, walking scores of kilometres from various points in the city.
All the gurudwaras, several Hindu and Jain temples, Ganeshotsav marquees, mosques and dargahs, churches, NGOs, charitable organisations, housing complexes and individuals made arrangements to offer food and beverages to the weary and stranded commuters, and arrangements to rest for the night.
Waterlogging has been reported from Dahisar, Borivali, Kandivali, Malad, Andheri, Jogeshwari, Vile Parle, Santacruz, Bandra, Matunga, Dadar, Elphinstone, Mumbai Central, Mazagaon, Lalbaug, Parel, Sion, Wadala, Kurla, Bhandup and other areas.
The rains affected normal operations at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport with flights getting delayed by around 35 minutes mainly on account of low visibility.
Seven incoming flights were made to go around till landing permission was granted while three flights were diverted, though operations continued.
Domestic and international passengers bound for the airport to catch their flights faced huge problems in reaching on time due to massive traffic snarls on the highways and main roads.
Mumbai IMD head K.S. Hosalikar said that in three hours since 8.30 a.m., Mumbai suburbs recorded a whopping 86 mm of rains, while Colaba recorded around 16 mm of rains.
“It’s not a July 26, 2005 type situation as the cloud cover over Mumbai is not that thick. However, we have issued weather warnings to the disaster units of Maharashtra government and the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation,” Hosalikar told media persons.
He said the IMD has forecast heavy to very heavy rains for at least the next 24 hours all over Maharashtra, especially over coastal North Konkan, Mumbai and other parts of the state.
The IMD warning says “intense precipitation likely to occur over Mumbai city, suburbs, Dahanu and Raigad during the latter part today (Tuesday)”.
In Mumbai areas which recorded the heaviest rains are: Matunga 253 mm, Parel 230 mm, Wadala 260mm, Bandra 210 mm, Vile Parle and Santacruz A212 mm, Worli -235, and Kurla 208 mm, said a BMC Disaster Control official.
(Quaid Najmi can be contacted at q.najmi@ians.in)
—IANS
