On Monday, gusty winds and rains lashed Mumbai and its neighbouring areas as the "very severe cyclonic storm" Tauktae passed through the city while heading towards Gujarat.
As a precautionary measure, the monorail services in the city were suspended for the day, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) said. A tweet on Mumbai Monorail's official Twitter handle said: "As a precautionary measure against the tropical cyclone Tauktae, Mumbai Monorail has suspended all the operations for a day. This was a prompt decision taken for the safety of the commuters. We regret any inconvenience caused."
Even the local trains’ services of the Central Railway were disrupted between suburban Ghatkopar and Vikhroli as a tree branch fell on a train heading towards neighbouring Thane. "Due to gusty winds, tree branches fallen on OHE and EMU local train between Ghatkopar- Vikroli section on Down slow line. Slow line trains diverted on fast line between Matunga- Mulund stations. Only one train going towards Thane held up in the section b/w Ghatkopar-Vikroli," the Central Railway said.
In view of the high-speed winds, the Bandra-Worli sea-link was also closed for traffic and people were asked to take alternate routes, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said. "Dear Mumbaikars, Bandra-Worli sea link will be closed to commute till further update. Please take alternate routes if at all you plan to move out. The best plan however is to stay indoors today unless it’s absolutely unavoidable," the BMC tweeted.
KS Hosalikar, head SID, Climate Research & Services, IMD Pune, said that the Cyclone Tauktae was about 160 km west-southwest of Mumbai. "#TauktaeCyclone. Extremely Severe Cyclonic Storm now. Mumbai 160 km Veraval Guj 290 km Take care ...North Konkan, Mah coast and Guj," KS Hosalikar tweeted.
According to the BMC, the island city received 8.37 mm rainfall between Sunday 11 pm and Monday 7 am, while the eastern and western suburbs received 6.53 mm and 3.92 mm downpour, respectively, during the same period.
The civic-run Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) undertaking has deployed officers of its transport and power wings at various locations, including control rooms for disaster management.
On Sunday, the IMD issued an orange alert for Mumbai, predicting heavy to very heavy rains at isolated places with strong winds on Monday.
According to civic officials, the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and the Indian Navy were on alert as Cyclone Tauktae intensified to a very severe cyclonic storm and was passing close to Mumbai.
(With inputs from Agencies)
