Mumbai: The cyclonic storm Tauktae finally made landfall near Jafarabad in the Amreli district of Gujarat around 9.45 pm on Monday, but not before wreaking havoc in Mumbai and the adjoining areas. As many as 26 incidents of house/ wall collapse and 479 incidents of trees being uprooted/branches falling were reported from across the city.
Extremely heavy rains have been recorded over the last 12 hours in Mumbai (from 8.30am to 8.30pm) as the IMD’s Santacruz and Colaba observatories recorded 214.6 mm and 202.6 mm of rain respectively. At the BMC’s automated weather station (AWS), the maximum rainfall recorded up to 5.30pm was in H east ward (Bandra east, Santacruz east) - 242 mm, Chincholi fire station (Malad-Goregaon) 236 mm and K west (Andheri west, Juhu, Versova etc) 231 mm, D ward (Malabar hill, Breach candy, Grant road etc) 229 mm and G south ward (Worli, Prabhadevi etc) - 216 mm.
At least four people were declared injured in a wall collapse incident in Mumbai while three others were injured in Borivai. Besides this, there were 17 incidents of short circuit reported throughout Monday.
Meanwhile, six people were killed in the Konkan region in separate incidents related to the severe cyclonic storm while three sailors remained missing after two boats sank in the sea. According to an official statement, six persons died, while nine others received injuries in storm-related incidents in the coastal region. Three people were reported to have died in Raigad district, while Thane and Sindhudurg districts reported two and one deaths, respectively, it said.
In the Mansachapada area on Kashimira-Mira Road, a 75-year-old woman was crushed to death after a tree crashed on her hut, owing to gusty winds and heavy rains.
Thousands of people were evacuated from the coastal region as a precautionary measure. Raigad district is on red alert while Mumbai, Thane and Palghar districts are on orange alert.
A wind speed of 114 kmph was recorded around 2pm at the automated weather station (AWS) at Afghan Church in Colaba, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said in a release.
Two barges with 410 persons onboard went adrift off the Mumbai coast. The Indian Navy Search and Rescue team – INS Kolkata – has sailed out for assistance. As the cyclone inched closer to the Mumbai coast, the Bandra Worli Sea Link was closed and monorail services were suspended for the day. The Mumbai Monorail operators issued a message stating that the decision had been taken considering the safety of its commuters.
The Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) had ceased all flight operations from 11am to 10pm on Monday. The airport has so far witnessed seven diversions. In the wake of the alert, a few airlines have decided to cancel services to Mumbai. CSMIA has registered the cancellations of 34 arrivals and 22 departures. Passengers were advised to connect with their respective airlines before leaving their homes.
Train services were hit due to water-logging and trees falling on railway tracks. Local train services of the Central Railway were disrupted between suburban Ghatkopar and Vikhroli for about a half hour as a tree fell on an overhead wire while a train was heading towards neighbouring Thane. Likewise, operations of the BEST buses, autorickshaws, black and yellow taxis and aggregator cabs were severely affected due to waterlogging and heavy rains throughout the day.
On the Western Railway, heavy winds and rains caused problems near stations of Virar, Dahisar, Boisar, Dahanu, Churchgate and Marine Lines. At Virar, the roof of the platform was damaged, though the WR authorities blamed a tarpaulin sheet from a nearby shopping mall which flew and came down on the OHE cables, thereby impacting the rail lines.
Services on the CR’s Harbour line, which provides rail connectivity to Navi Mumbai, were also affected after a vinyl banner fell on an overhead wire between Chunabhatti and Guru Teg Bahadur stations around 11.45am. The banner was removed after half-an-hour and train services were resumed. Due to the strong wind, some plastic sheets covering the roof of the common passenger area between the suburban and main lines at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) were blown away in the morning.
Rainfall, areawise (Sources: IMD and Vagaries of weather)
1. Juhu: 300mm
2.Vakola: 281mm
3.Goregaon, Andheri: 260mm
4.Ram Mandir:259mm
5.Dadar West: 251mm
6.Malad: 248mm
7.Kandivali West: 245mm
8.Century Bazaar: 244mm
9.Elphinston Road: 235mm
10.Vile Parle West: 216mm
11.Santacruz IMD: 215mm
12.Borivali West: 214mm
13.CSTM: 213mm
14.Dahisar: 196mm
15.Thane: 195mm
16.Colaba: 192mm
17.Mira Road: 189mm
18.Bhendi Bazaar: 185mm
19.Sandhurst Road: 172mm
20.Bandra West: 171mm
21.GTB rly Stn: 137mm
22.Bhandup,Byculla: 113mm
23.Kasarvadavali: 111mm
24.Ghatkopar: 101mm
25.Chembur: 95mm
Forecast for Tuesday: IMD Mumbai has predicted heavy to very heavy rainfall accompanied with strong winds reaching 90-100 kmph gusting to 115 kmph in city and suburbs in the next 24 hours, with the possibility of extremely heavy rainfall in isolated areas.
WATERLOGGING: Waterlogging was reported in over 20 places in the city. Areas such as Hindamata, Mahalaxmi Junction, Nana Chowk, Sakkar Panchayat Chowk, Dadar TT, Worli SIES Sion, Bindumadhav Junction, Pethe Bapurao Marg in Grant road, Chandan Street at Masjid under road, Shankar Bari lane, Chira Bazar, 56 Modi Street in Colaba, J J Road Junction, BDD Chawl, Amrutwar Marg, Andheri Subway, Oshiwara Bus Depot, Sainath Subway, Lokhandwala Lane- Andheri west, Malvani Gate No. 6, Yogi Nagar in Borivli, Yashwant Nagar -Vakola east, were flooded after intense spells of rain throughout the day.
(With inputs from Shashank Rao, Priyanka Navalkar, Suresh Golani, Sweety Adimulam and Amit Srivastava)
