Mumbai: After a long hiatus, heavy rains returned to lash Mumbai and surrounding areas on Wednesday, prompting the Met department to issue a red alert for the city and its neighbouring districts, predicting "extremely heavy rainfall".
Amid the inclement weather, two flights have been diverted and seven flights had to make a go-around at Mumbai airport till 8.09 pm before getting clearance for landing, an airport official said on Wednesday. The two diverted flights included IndiGo flight 6E1052, which initially did a go-around before finally getting diverted to Ahmedabad.
School Education Minister Deepak Kesarkar, the guardian minister for Mumbai city, declared a holiday as heavy rains pounded Mumbai. A Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation official said the holiday has been declared as a precautionary measure as the Met department has issued a red alert predicting extremely heavy rainfall till 8:30 am on Thursday.
"All schools and colleges under BMC's jurisdiction will remain closed on Thursday, considering the safety of the students," the BMC stated. The civic body also appealed to citizens to step out of their homes only if necessary. "Commuters are advised to check weather updates and plan accordingly," the civic body said.
A civic official said the India Meteorological Department (IMD) upgraded its orange alert for Mumbai to a red alert valid till 8.30 am on Thursday. Officials said two flights were diverted and seven flights had to make a go-around at Mumbai airport due to inclement weather. Traffic on roads also crawled while local trains ran behind schedule.
Several suburbs of Mumbai have been receiving significant rain from Wednesday afternoon, with Mulund and its surroundings experiencing the heaviest rainfall, inundating low-lying areas. Heavy showers have been lashing the island city from the evening, slowing down road traffic due to water-logging and poor visibility. Local train services were also delayed due to rains, said officials.
In its latest warning, issued at 5.30 pm, IMD predicted extremely heavy rainfall and thunderstorms with lightning and gusty winds at isolated places in Mumbai, Thane, Raigad and Ratnagiri districts. The Met department has issued a red alert for Palghar and an orange one for Thane, Raigad, Mumbai and Pune for September 26. An orange alert has been issued for Nashik and Dhule districts in north Maharashtra.
IMD scientist Sushma Nair said a trough runs from north Konkan to south Bangladesh across a cyclonic circulation over south Chhattisgarh and its neighbourhood extending to the middle tropospheric level tilting southwards with height. "This will lead to fairly widespread to widespread light/moderate rainfall is very likely over Konkan and Goa during the week," she said. Isolated heavy rainfall is very likely over Konkan and Goa and central Maharashtra during September 25-27.
