Heavy Rain Lashes Mumbai: Two Flights Diverted, Waterlogging In Several Areas; Red Alert Till Thursday Morning

Heavy rain lashed the city of Mumbai and surrounding areas on Wednesday following which the Indian Meteorological Department issued a red alert for the financial capital and its neighbouring districts.

The Met department predicted “extremely heavy rainfall”. The red alert is 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.

The Meteorological Department has issued a Red Alert for Palghar and Nashik, and an Orange Alert for Thane, Raigad, and Pune for tomorrow.

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.

Visuals shared by news agency PTI on its social media showed waterlogging in parts of Chembur Ghatla. News agency ANI also shared visuals of vehicles and people wading through a waterlogged Belapur in Navi Mumbai.

Heavy showers have lashed Mumbai since evening and has led to traffic snarls and poor visibility due to waterlogging. Local train services were also delayed due to heavy rains as waterlogging was reported between Vidyavihar and Mulund stations, as per the Mumbai Railways’ Central Division, impacting up and down slow train services from a little past 8pm (2010 hrs).

The Mumbai Railways’ Central Division expressed regret for the inconvenience caused in a social media post.

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.

IMD scientist Sushma Nair told PTI 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.