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The Mumbai city and extended metropolitan suburbs received very monsoon heavy rains on Monday night and almost the whole of Tuesday, which reminded of the catastrophic July 26, 2005 floods. There was heavy flooding in the low lying areas of the city and suburbs.
From Monday to Tuesday night, the Santacruz weather observatory in suburban Mumbai recorded 268.6 mm of rain, while the Colaba weather observatory rain gauges recorded 251 mm of rainfall.
Maharashtra Tourism Minister and Shiv Sena leader Aditya Thackeray visited major flooded areas of the city. In a tweet, Thackeray said that he took stock of the situation at Gandhi Market, Matunga and King’s Circle with Municipal Commissioner of Greater Mumbai, I S Chahal. Perhaps for the first time after July 2005, Mumbai has experienced such heavy rains in a 12-hour span.
The heavy rains on Tuesday led to a major landslide from a hillock, which runs parallel to the Western Express highway at Malad in suburban Mumbai. Tonnes of rocks and debris were strewn on the asphalt leading to the major traffic jam on the highway. But, no death or injuries were reported in the incident. Granular break up of the numbers has revealed that till 8.30 am Malad (west) had received a whopping 313.60 mm of rain.
It also lead to major flooding in parts of the city and suburbs. The suburban railways' system, which is running skeletal services due to Covid, was also thrown out of gear.
Dy Director General of Meteorology (Mumbai) KS Hosalikar in a media statement said that extremely heavy rain over a 12-hour period under the influence of a low-pressure weather system developing over the north Bay of Bengal has led to the downpour. Active monsoon conditions over the Arabian Sea, led to high convection and localised circulation that enhanced rain activity, thunderstorms and overnight gusty winds. After a minor break on Tuesday morning, extremely heavy rain is likely to pick up through the day. The red alert for Mumbai continues for Tuesday and Wednesday.
The Director-General of National Disaster Management Force (NDRF), Satya Narayan Pradhan in a late evening tweet said that a team has rushed to the site of a house collapse at Vakola (suburban Mumbai). One person was rescued alive, two died and another still missing. The rescue operations continue.
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