Mumbai: The monsoon officially arrived in Mumbai on Saturday and hit the city and other parts of Maharashtra with full fury, disrupting flights, the suburban train system and road traffic, besides claiming two lives, officials said.
The Indian Meteorological Department has forecast heavy rains with thundershowers in the city and suburbs over the next 48 hours, with isolated extreme heavy rainfall in some areas till Monday.
There were at least two incidents of building crashes here as waterlogging was reported from several parts and in adjoining Thane, one person was electrocuted and another was killed due to a lightning strike.
At least two firemen were injured when a portion of a dilapidated building on fire suddenly crashed in south Mumbai’s Fort area earlier.
Four persons sustained minor injuries when the roof of a four storeyed building Munji House crashed at Prabhadevi in central Mumbai late on Friday.
Flights at the Mumbai airport were affected, with Jet Airways announcing delays of around 40 minutes for departures and 20 minutes for arrivals due to congestion and bad weather till 3pm.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation said south Mumbai experienced 33.10mm rains while the suburbs notched 33.80mm rains till noon, as it continues to rain in most parts.
Owing to waterlogging in parts of central Mumbai like Dadar east, Parel, Sion, Kings Circle and surroundings, traffic was hit badly and diversions were implemented to prevent snarls.
While the suburban train services on the Central Railway were delayed by around 15 minutes, the services on Western Railway remained largely unaffected by the rains.
The coastal districts of Sindhudurg, Ratnagiri, Raigad, Thane and Palghar also received heavy rains as the monsoon spread across the state bringing relief from the sultry heat experienced in the past few weeks.
Meanwhile, schools and colleges have been shut in the coastal districts of Karnataka on Saturday due to heavy monsoon rains lashing the region, officials said.
The coastal districts of Udupi, Dakshina Kannada, Uttara Kannada and south interior districts of Kodagu, Shivamogga and Chikkamagaluru have been receiving heavy rainfall over the last few days due to an active Southwest monsoon in the state.
“All the schools and colleges in the district were given a holiday on Saturday as a precautionary measure due to heavy rains,” an official from Dakshina Kannada district Deputy Commissioner’s office told IANS over phone.
According to the data from the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the coastal districts of Udupi, Dakshina Kannada and Uttara Kannada received an average of over 7cm rainfall.
The Southwest monsoon, which set in the southern state on June 4, has been causing widespread rains in coastal and south interior regions, IMD Bengaluru centre’s forecast-in-charge C.S. Patil told IANS earlier.
The pre-monsoon rains, accompanied by thunderstorms and gusty winds, wrecked havoc in the state inundating low-lying areas, uprooting trees and snapping power lines and damaging roads in coastal, central and south interior districts over the last week.
The Met Office has also issued heavy rainfall alert in the coastal districts over the next few days.
“Sea condition is likely to be rough to very rough over the Arabian Sea. Fishermen are advised to be cautious while venturing into sea off the Karnataka coast,” an IMD advisory said.
Moderate to heavy rainfall is likely to continue over coastal districts and south interior districts, it added.
The state capital Bengaluru has received light rainfall measuring up to three mm till 8.30am on Saturday. The weather office predicts light rainfall to continue in the city over the next few days.
As many as 27 incoming flights were diverted from the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) on Saturday evening following a powerful dust storm and rain, officials said.
An IGIA official said the diversions took place between 5pm and 6pm.
“Till 6pm 27 flights have been diverted due to the weather condition,” the official told IANS.
