25 September,2024 12:13 AM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondent
Crowded Dadar station on Wednesday night. Pic/Sameer Abedi
Mumbai local train and flight services were on Wednesday night hit as Mumbai rains continued to lash city and its adjoining areas as the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) upgraded its orange alert for Mumbai city and its neighbouring districts to a red alert till 8.30 am on Thursday.
The Harbour line services were suspended due to water-logging between Mankhurd and Govandi at 9:41 pm on Wednesday and it was was declared as normal at 23.23 hrs, the officials said.
"Between Vidya Vihar and Mulund, UP and Down local lines are hit with heavy rains and water-logging. Bhandup-Nahur down local line is also hit with heavy water-logging and between Kanjurmarg and Vikhroli, 30 kmph question order was imposed on UP and Down services," said Central Railway Chief PRO Dr. Swapnil Nila
Parts of Mumbai also witnessed water-logging. On Wednesday the Andheri Subway was closed for traffic twice, for a brief period. The BKC-Chunabhatti connector road also witnessed water-logging. 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, sources said.
Multiple flights from various locations to Mumbai has been delayed due to low visiblity and wind sheer at Mumbai airport approach. Sources from ATC confirmed the weather status and also disclosed that over 30 incoming aircrafts have been conveyed the message of delaying the flight before take off.
14 flight diversions reported in Mumbai including Indigo - 9, Vistara - 2, Air India - 1, Akasa Air- 1 and Gulf Air - 1.
The flights were diverted to Ahmedabad - 4, Hyderabad - 7, Goa MOPA - 2 and Udaipur - 1, the officials said.
If visibility reduces more, runway operations will have to be suspended as well. Those aircrafts inbound to Mumbai and are already in air have been updated about the weather and have been advised to be prepared for a diversion to their alternate if weather conditions worsen, the official sources said.
Flight schedule displayed at Bengaluru airport, Mumbai flights delayed, a passenger at the Bengaluru airport said.
Two flights were diverted due to heavy rains--- AI-656 HSR (Rajkot)/BOM (Mumbai) was diverted to AMD (Ahmadabad). and 6E1052 BKK (Bangkok)/BOM (Mumbai) had a go around at time 20:04 due to wind shear and diverting to AMD (Ahmadabad) at the same time. Till 20: 09 hrs, 7 go around and 2 diversions took place: ATC Mumbai, the official said.
The IMD said that extremely heavy rainfall and thunderstorm with lightning and gusty winds at isolated places were very likely in Mumbai and Thane.
The weather department also issued an orange alert for Palghar district in Maharashtra.
A red alert was also issued for Pune, Raigad and Ratnagiri districts predicting extremely heavy rainfall and thunderstorm with lightning and gusty winds at isolated places were very likely.
Meanwhile, in a nowcast warning issued at 7 pm on Wednesday. The IMD said that thunderstorm accompanied with lightning and intense spells of rain with gusty winds reaching 40-50 kmph very likely to occur at isolated places in the districts of Mumbai, Palghar, Nandurbar, Dhule, Jalgaon, Solapur and Satara during next 3-4 hours.
"Take precautions while moving out" the IMD said.
