Mumbai rain highlights: Schools shut, flights diverted as IMD predicts heavy rainfall, high tide

More than 30 animals, birds and reptiles were rescued in Mumbai and surrounding districts as heavy rains pounded the region, a forest official said.

Cases of lost and abandoned pets, strays, and domestic animals were also reported, along with wildlife distress calls from the city and suburbs, said Santosh Bhagane from the Mumbai range rescue team of the forest department.

“We have received more than 60 distress calls in 24 hours and rescued more than 30 animals, birds and reptiles from Mumbai and surrounding districts of Thane, Raigad and Palghar,” said Pawan Sharma, founder and president of RAWW (Resqink Association for Wildlife Welfare) and the honorary wildlife warden with the forest department.

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Mumbai’s Powai Lake began overflowing as heavy rains lashed the city for the last couple of days, a civic official said. The lake, which has a storage capacity of 545 crore litres, started overflowing at 4.45 p.m., the official said.

However, the water from the lake is not potable and is used only for industrial purposes. When the lake is full, the water area is around 2.23 square kilometres, while the catchment area is 6.61 square kilometres.

Located around 27 kilometres from the BMC headquarters, Powai Lake was built in 1890 for ₹12.59 lakh. Seven reservoirs, namely Bhatsa, Upper Vaitarna, Middle Vaitarna, Tansa, Modak Sagar, Vihar and Tulsi, supply 385 crore litres of potable water to the megapolis.

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A landslide occurred on a hillock in Thane, which led to residents of four houses being evacuated, civic officials said.

No one was hurt in the incident that took place at 1:25pm in Lokmanya Nagar Pada number 4, said Thane Municipal Corporation regional disaster management cell chief Yasin Tadvi.

“Relief operations began immediately after authorities were alerted. Four houses and two trees on the remaining portion of the hillock are now in a dangerous condition. We evacuated 25 persons from these four houses and shifted them to safety,” he said.

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Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde took stock of the heavy rain situation in Mumbai by chairing a meeting at Mantralaya and visiting the control room of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).

After attending the meeting at Mantralaya, Mr. Shinde went to the disaster department control room at the civic headquarters and reviewed the situation.

The chief minister was apprised of the situation by civic officials.

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The Maharashtra Assembly and Council adjourned early due to heavy rains in the city and other parts of the State, which prevented several legislators and officials from reaching the legislature complex.

When the Lower House convened at 11 a.m., Leader of Opposition Vijay Wadettiwar said that the residents of Mumbai were facing severe challenges due to the intense rainfall. 

He criticised the lack of adequate pre-monsoon preparations despite significant financial expenditure.

However, Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar said that the city had experienced 300 mm of rainfall overnight, causing delays for many MLAs and ministers trying to reach the Assembly. 

- Abhinay Deshpande

In view of the heavy showers in parts of Maharashtra, the state government declared a holiday for all schools in Mumbai, Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg districts.

Maharashtra School Education Minister Deepak Kesarkar made the announcement in the state legislative council.

“Mumbai received rains last night. We have issued a notification in the morning declaring a holiday today for all the schools in Mumbai city, Mumbai suburban, Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg districts,” he said.

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Police and other district authorities have evacuated several tourists and trekkers stranded at the Raigad hill fort near Mumbai following heavy rains.

The fort, located around 170 km from Mumbai, has now been closed for visitors till July 31.

The Raigad district in Maharashtra’s Konkan region witnessed heavy rains over the last 24 hours, due to which a number of visitors were stuck at the fort, a famous monument which was once the capital of Maratha king Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.

Due to a flood-like situation at the ‘Payri Marg’ (step way) of the fort, tourists were facing difficulty in walking along that stretch, an official from Mahad police station said.

The Raigad police and district administration teams went there and evacuated the tourists and trekkers, the official said.

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Around 50 flights were cancelled by various airlines till 11 a.m. due to the heavy rains.

A citizen’s groups is demanding for compensation from the civic body, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) for disruptions caused by waterlogging and flooding. 

In a letter to the Maharashtra’s Chief Minister, Eknath Shinde, Watchdog Foundation, a citizens group in Mumbai said, “We express our deep dissatisfaction with the BMC’s recent claim of having kept the metropolis “rain ready.” This assertion has been thoroughly discredited by the significant flooding experienced across several areas, which severely disrupted vehicular traffic. For instance, the Marol area, which rarely experiences flooding, was in 4 feet deep water, which damaged many vehicles including the instances of water entering residential premises and shops.” 

The citizens group demanded resignation from the concerned authorities who gave false statements to the people of Mumbai that they are monsoon ready. 

Maharashtra Assembly speaker Rahul Narwekar adjourned the House till 1 p.m. in view of several MLAs and ministers unable to reach the legislature complex in south Mumbai due to heavy rains.

As soon as the House assembled for the day at 11 a.m., Leader of Opposition Vijay Wadettiwar highlighted the problems being faced by people in Mumbai due to the heavy rains.

The Congress leader claimed pre-monsoon preparedness was lacking despite crores of rupees being spent.

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Due to heavy rains and low visibility had led to the suspension of runway operations. The runway was closed from 2:22am to 3:40 am due to low visibility issues. It was reported that 27 flights have been diverted. The flights were diverted to Ahmedabad, Hyderabad and Indore.

Currently, priority is being given to arrivals, delaying departures, and consequential changes that were made to accommodate diverted flights.

The administration has declared holiday for all schools and colleges due to the forecast of heavy rains combined with 4.40 metres high tide

Maharashtra’s Minister for Relief and Rehabilitation Anil Patil and his party colleague MLA Amol Mitkari were also stranded due to incessant rains. These two NCP MLAs were on their way to Mumbai to attend ongoing Assembly session. They got off on the railway tracks to cover the remaining journey.

Anticipating severe waterlogging in various parts of Mumbai, the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) has deployed its teams after heavy rain was reported in several parts of the city. The Met Department has predicted light to moderate spell of rainfall likley over Mumbai during next 3 hours. 

The teams have been deployed in Thane, Vasai ( Palghar), Mahad (Raigad), Chiplun (Ratnagiri), Kolhapur, Sangli, Satara Ghatkopar, Kurla and Sindhudurg.NDRF said it has also deployed three regular teams at Andheri and one team at Nagpur.The action came to “avert any untoward incident and give an appropriate response in case of any flood-like situation. 

“Meanwhile, Western Railway, in a statement, said that suburban trains are running up to 10 minutes late as water is above track level between Matunga Road and Dadar due to heavy rains.It said that high-capacity water pumps are being used to drain water away from the railway tracks. 

Traffic was reported to have slowed down on the Western Express Highway near Vile Parle following heavy rains.

According to India Meteorological Department (IMD), the offshore trough along Gujarat north Kerala coast that has strengthened along the north Konkan coast around midnight, triggering heavy spells in Mumbai.

The IMD also added that moderate spells of rainfall is expected in Mumbai and its suburbs in the next three hours and heavy rainfall at isolated placed in the next 24 hours.

Western Railway’s Mumbai suburban trains are running up to 10 mins late because water is above track level between Matunga Road and Dadar due to heavy rains.

High capacity water pumps are being utilised to drain waters away from the railway tracks

Due to heavy rains and water logging between Bhandup and Nahur trains are being run by clamping and padlocking the points. Clamping completed at 06.45 am. 

Train Services on Main line Down and Up Fast line between CSMT-Thane is suspended. However, Down and Up slow lines are running.

Harbour line services are temporarily suspended due to waterlogging at Chunnabhati. -- Snehal

Local train services on the Central Railway routes were severely hit early Monday morning while various roads in Mumbai were waterlogged after some areas recorded more than 300 mm rainfall overnight, officials said. 

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) in a statement issued in the morning said heavy rain is also expected on Monday.

It declared a holiday for the first session of the day for all the BMC, government and private schools and colleges in Mumbai municipal limits in order to avoid inconvenience to students.

“The decision for the next session will be announced after reviewing the situation,” the statement said.

Suburban services of the Central Railway were severely affected due to waterlogging of tracks on both the Main and Harbour corridors, authorities said.

The civic body’s disaster management department said suburban services on both the CR corridors resumed operation at 6.45 am.

The BMC said some areas in Mumbai received more than 300 mm rainfall from 1 am to 7 am on Monday.

The highest 315 rainfall in this period was recorded in Govandi area and 314 mm in Powai area, it said. -- PTI