Mumbai: Overnight heavy incessant rains led to flights disruption at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA), Mumbai on Thursday.
“The runway operations were briefly suspended due to inclement weather and poor visibility. Flight operations were suspended for 20 minutes and led to disruption of flight schedules,” confirmed Mumbai Airport spokesperson.
The flight operations were suspended at Mumbai Airport with closure of runway from 10.36 am to 10.55 am due to extremely poor visibility of 1000 metres and Runway Visual Range (RVR) at 1200 metres making flight landings and take off risky.
All major airlines issued an advisory informing flyers o flights delays due to heavy downpour hitting airport operations
"Flights to and from Mumbai may get affected due to heavy rains. Guests are advised to start early for the airport, as slow traffic and waterlogging may delay movement," said Air India statement. Several other airlines issued similar advisory alerting flyers of flight cancellation and delays.
IndiGo cautioned passenger that the persistent rains caused periodic delays in their flight schedules. The low-cost carrier assured to provide real-time updates to passengers and advised to check flight status before heading to the airport.
Another budget airline Spicejet stated that all departures and arrivals, as well as their consequential flights, at Mumbai airport got impacted due to the adverse weather conditions. "Passengers are requested to keep a check on their flight status," advised Spicejet.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) had issued a red alert for Mumbai, predicting moderate to heavy rain in the city and its suburbs, with the possibility of very heavy rainfall in isolated areas.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) hydraulic engineering department reported that two out of seven lakes supplying water to Mumbai, Tulsi and Tansa, have started overflowing due to continuous heavy rainfall in catchment area of the lakes.
The potable water stock in Middle Vaitarna was at 63.32%, Upper Vaitarna was 34.13%, and Bhatsa at 64.09%, with Modak Sagar likely to overflow soon. The seven reservoirs—Bhatsa, Upper Vaitarna, Middle Vaitarna, Tansa, Modak Sagar, Vihar, and Tulsi—supply 385 crore litres of potable water to Mumbai.
