Cyclone Tauktae: Gusty winds, heavy rains sweep Mumbai; over 50 flights cancelled

Pic/Sameer Abedi

Gusty winds along with very heavy rainfall hit Mumbai on Monday morning due to severe cyclone Tauktae that has barrelled towards Gujarat. As a result, more than 600 trees collapsed across the city, mostly in the South and Western suburbs. Many parts of the city faced waterlogging. Many corporators criticised the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) for not cleaning nullas and accused the civic body of not taking adequate precautions despite being alerted before. No loss of human life has been reported in Mumbai. However, the BMC received 4,848 calls distress calls during the day.

The wind speed was reported to be 108 km per hour at Colaba according to IMD, while BMC recorded a wind speed of 114 km per hour at Afghan Church at Colaba around 2 pm. All other parts of the city recorded less than 100 km per hour winds.

More than the rainfall, it was the gusty winds that did the damage resulting in several tree falling incidents across the city. Around 215 trees collapsed in the south city that led to road blocking, damaged vehicles and even damage to structures. In the Western suburbs 303 tree collapse incidents were reported while 93 trees collapsed in the Eastern suburbs.

Waterlogging

Many parts of the city got waterlogged during the day. The BMC received waterlogging complaints from Mahalaxmi Junction, Hindmata, Nana Chowk, Sakkar Panchayat Chowk -Wadala, Dadar TT, SIES college - Sion, Bindumadhav junction- Worli, Grant Road, Chandan street- Masjid Road, Chirabajar, Modi street-Colaba, J J road junction, BDD Chawl, Andheri sub-way, Oshiwra Bus depot, Sainath subway, Lokhandwala lane- Andheri, Malwani Gate no. 6, Yoginagar- Borivli, Yashwant Nagar- Vakola.

Also read: Mumbai airport suspends operation till 10 pm

Rais Shiekh, group leader of the Samajwadi Party accused the BMC of not cleaning the nullahs properly. He said, "Most parts in the city faced waterlogging in a day's rainfall. Despite spending crores, the city is still getting flooded. Even the pumping station failed to work properly."

Also Read: Cyclone Tauktae: Personnel on board 2 barges adrift off Mumbai safe, says Afcons

Rakhi Jadhav, group leader of the Nationalist Congress Party said, "A part of the ongoing construction of a bridge over Laxmi-Baug nullah collapsed in the nullah and the area got waterlogged. It is happened due to negligence of the bridges department."

House collapses

BMC received 26 complaints of houses collapses, out of it 15 were in south city, 3 in eastern suburbs and 8 in western suburbs. Four people got injured after houses collapsed in Suman Nagar, Chembur. Two women were injured after a crane collapsed on Saisrushti building, Kajupada, Borivli east and one woman was hurt after a part of a one storey structure collapsed in Ganesh Nagar Society, Andheri West.

Nair Hospital waterlogged

"There was waterlogging that the staff is trying to remove. Hasn't affected any patient," said Dr Ramesh Bharmal, Dean, BYL Nair Hospital.

Two missing in the sea

In two separate incidents, two persons are reported missing and another two are stranded on a boat in the sea. As per the report, an anchored boat near Madh jetty burst due to the cyclonic storm. Out of five people, four were rescued and one person is missing and feared dead. In another incident, a boat went into the sea after the anchor broke down. There were five people on the boat, while two swam to the shore, two were stranded on the boat. One person is feared dead.

Mumbai rainfall stats

From 8 am to 5 pm

Bandra East - 242 mm

Chincholi, Malad - 236 mm

Grant Road - 229 mm

Worli Fire Brigade - 216 mm

Parel - 216 mm

CSMT - 191 mm

Byculla - 175 mm

Goreagon - 204 mm

Kandivli - 206 mm

Mumbai airport update

With Cyclone Tauktae hitting Mumbai city in all its might since Sunday night onwards, the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) was forced to suspend its operations for a total of nine hours on Monday, leading to numerous flights being diverted.

The airport itself was initially supposed to suspend its operations for only three hours, starting 11 AM to 2 PM, but due to high velocity of winds and reduced visibility because of the heavy rainfall, it's operations were further suspended till 4 PM.

Civic workers inspect a flooded street at King's Circle. Photo: Shadab Khan

As the storm did not show signs of subsiding till late in the afternoon, CSMIA announced once again that it was further suspending operations up until 6 PM. Another announcement followed within the hour that operations was suspended up until 8 pm and would now be suspended till 10 pm as per latest updates.

At least three flights have been diverted from the Mumbai airport due to the cyclone. These include one SpiceJet flight that was diverted to Surat, an Indigo flight that had to return back to Lucknow, and another indigo flight that was diverted to Hyderabad.

The airport has so far witnessed a total of 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.

Railway update

As the cyclone passed over the city, its lifeline, the Mumbai local, was affected due to incidents of tree branches falling, trees getting uprooted and sheets on roofs at railway stations flying away. Central Railway services were intermittently disrupted even as Western Railway ones largely remained functional.

Local train services between Ghatkopar and Vikhroli section on Kalyan-bound slow line got affected after tree branches fell on the overhead wires due to gusty winds. Slow line trains were diverted on the fast line between Matunga and Mulund stations on the Central line. A Thane-bound local was held up in the section between Ghatkopar and Vikhroli. The line remained affected between 9:10am to 11:10am.

A BEST bus on a waterlogged street near Borivli station. Pic: Satej Shinde

At Mumbai CSMT station and Byculla station, few sheets from the roof flew away due to heavy winds, leaving a gaping hole in the roof. The false ceiling at Kalyan station's passenger reservation centre collapsed during lunch time. Since it was lunch time, no booking clerks were present at the counter and no injuries were reported in the incident.

At around 11:45am, a loose banner fell on the tracks between Chunabhatti and Guru Tej Bahadur Nagar stations. The line was finally restored at 12:15pm after a safety clearances. Following continuous rainfall and waterlogging near Masjid Bunder station, harbour line services were suspended between 1:20 pm to 2:40pm. Later in the evening, tree branches fell on CSMT-bound harbour line track, damaging the overhead wires between Sewri and Cotton Green. The line was restored at 4:45pm.

On Western Railway, one plastic fibre sheet from outside fell on tracks near Dahisar. It was cleared by the train's motorman. At Virar, a sheet from a nearby mall flew off and hit the overhead wires and damaged it infringing a Dahanu-bound local line. The Railway staff fixed the issue quickly.

Elsewhere, a huge tree fall between Churchgate and Marine Lines station around 6:20 pm delaying evening services. An incident of overhead wires getting snapped was reported after a flying sheet at Umroli led to further detention of trains.

Mumbai Monorail had decided to suspend operations for the day. BEST buses were also diverted on several routes and several services cancelled throughout the day.