Red alert as Mumbai battered with 10 cm rain in 5 hours, schools shut

After a long hiatus, heavy rains returned to lash Mumbai and suburbs on Wednesday, inundating low-lying areas, stopping local trains on tracks between Kurla and Thane stations and stranding passengers even as traffic crawled on roads. Schools and colleges in Mumbai and its suburbs will remain shut on Thursday amid a red alert for heavy rains, officials said, and 14 incoming flights were diverted to other airports.

IMAGE: The tracks at Mumbai's Bhandup railway station are submerged in the heavy rains, September 25, 2024. Photographs: ANI Photo

Some roads virtually turned into rivers of fast-moving water as several areas received more than 100 mm of rain in five hours of evening. 

As local trains stopped between Kurla and Thane stations on the Central line, thousands of commuters were stranded at CSMT and other stations, while there were traffic jams in various places.

The India meteorological department upgraded its orange alert for Mumbai city and its neighbouring districts to a red alert, valid till 8.30 am on Thursday.

Schools and colleges will remain closed on Thursday, civic officials ordered. 

As per BMC data, the island city, eastern suburbs and western suburbs received 87.79 mm, 167.48 mm, and 95.57 mm rainfall between 5 pm and 10 pm.

Mankhurd area in eastern suburbs received the highest 276 mm rainfall followed by 275 mm in Bhandup and 274 mm in Powai area. Sewri Koliwada and Wadala area in the island city witnessed the highest rainfall of more than 145 mm rainfall while the highest rainfall recorded in Western suburbs was 190 mm.

Central Railway's chief spokesperson said there was waterlogging between Vidyavihar and Mulund on UP and DOWN slow lines, and on DOWN lines between Bhandup and Nahur.

"Between Kanjurmarg and Vikhroli stations, a caution order of 30 kmph (speed) has been imposed," he said.

Western Railway claimed that despite heavy rainfall, local trains on its suburban network were running normally.

A commuter said the slow train on which he was traveling took one hour to reach Ghatkopar from Kurla, and it was jam-packed with almost no space to breathe, while another passenger said that his train was stuck at Kurla for two hours.

Ghatkopar railway station, where Mumbai Metro service too originates, also witnessed massive crowds.

"Ghatkopar Metro station right now. There's a chance of stampede as there's too much crowd. Avoid taking any mode of public transport right now...." X user @Prasadrajguru1 wrote.

Central Railway appealed to the stranded passengers to remain inside the trains and avoid stepping onto the tracks.

Traffic jams were seen on Lal Bahadur Shastri (LBS) Marg in Kurla and Ghatkopar, particularly near Sahara Hotel, Kurla Depot and Phoenix Mall Road, Kalpana cinema and Kalina Air India road.

Some vehicles, especially two-wheelers, broke down.

As many as 14 incoming flights at the Mumbai Airport were diverted to different airports on Wednesday due to heavy rains, an airport official said here.

Of these, nine flights were of IndiGo alone which were not given clearance to land in the city due to the inclement weather, the official said.

Of the remaining flights which were instructed by the ATC to divert to other airports, two were of Vistara and one each was of Air India, Akasa and Gulf Air.

Seven of the diverted flights were instructed to land in Hyderabad, four at Ahmedabad, two at Mopa Airport in Goa and one at Udaipur, the official added.

As IMD issued a red alert for Mumbai, city civic commissioner Bhushan Gagrani asked all assistant commissioners to ensure that respective executive engineers stay put in ward control rooms.

He also directed chief engineers of the Stormwater Drains (SWD) department to ensure SWD staff is on the field and de-watering pumps are operational.

Deputy chief engineers have been asked to be available in their respective zones at night, Gagrani added.

All deputy municipal commissioners have also been directed to monitor the situation in their respective zones.

IMD scientist Sushma Nair said a trough runs from north Konkan to south Bangladesh across a cyclonic circulation over south Chhattisgarh and its neighbourhood extending to the middle tropospheric level tilting southwards with height.

"This will lead to fairly widespread to widespread light/moderate rainfall is very likely over Konkan and Goa during the week," she said.

Isolated heavy rainfall is very likely over Konkan and Goa and central Maharashtra during September 25-27. 

Lightning kills 3 in Thane

In neighbouring Thane district, three persons were killed in separate incidents of lightning strikes over the last 24 hours ending Wednesday evening, an official said. 

The lightning strikes were reported from Shirgaon in Murbad taluka and near Kalyan on Tuesday afternoon.

At Shirgaon, a bolt from the sky struck a house, killing Parshu Pawar (42). At Kamba in Kalyan taluka, a man and a woman working in a quarry were killed when lightning struck them, a District Disaster Control Room official said.

The police have registered a case of accidental death.