Mumbai, July 6: Three members of a family were killed after a landslide buried their home, while nearly 300 people were rescued or shifted to safer places in Pune district as parts of Maharashtra, including Mumbai, reeled under downpour on Monday, significantly disrupting transport networks and normal life.
Relentless showers across the Mumbai-Pune region threw rail and road traffic out of gear, including on the 94-km-long expressway between the two cities. Roads resembled rivers, trees crashed, the newly opened ‘Missing Link’ section of the Mumbai-Pune Expressway failed its first monsoon test as the metropolis and its adjoining areas faced full force of a rain onslaught.
As a precautionary measure, schools and colleges across Mumbai remained closed on Monday following the India Meteorological Department’s (IMD) red alert.
The Maharashtra government also advised private establishments to allow employees to work from home wherever possible and declared a half-day for employees of non-essential government and semi-government offices
As per the BMC monsoon report, between 8 am and 6 pm, the city received an average of 28.2 millimetres rainfall, while the eastern and western suburbs recorded 61.75 mm and 65.45 mm, respectively.
Showers triggered landslides that forced authorities to shut the vital Mumbai-Pune Expressway and suspend Railway operations on some sections.
Pune district witnessed heavy rains, triggering landslides, one of which killed three members of a family at their home in Patan village in Maval in the early hours. They also caused disruption to road and rail traffic, prompting operations that saw 30 people being rescued and more than 270 shifted to safety, officials said.
According to the Pune district administration, 27 revenue circles received more than 65 mm of rainfall, with Maval recording the highest precipitation of 237.3 mm.
In Maval, the fire brigade rescued 30 employees stranded in a company bus in the Talegaon area, while 250 residents of Taje village were shifted to safer locations as a precaution, officials said.
All efforts to clear landslides on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway near the Missing Link section and on the Lonavala-Karjat railway route were underway in order to restore the routes for traffic, they said.
In Haveli tehsil, nearly two dozen people from five families were evacuated from Bhavadi village, they added. In Alandi, pilgrims staying in the temple premises and dharamshalas were shifted to safer places following a rise in the water level of the Indrayani river.
Maharashtra Disaster Management Minister Girish Mahajan said 13 people have died in the last three to four days in rain-related incidents. A ‘red’ alert for heavy rains has been sounded for the next two days, he added.
In Mumbai, wind speed reached up to around 90 kmph on Monday, higher than 50-60 kmph on Tuesday. Also, 291 incident of tree/branch fall were reported in the metropolis during the day.
A fireman was injured while clearing a massive uprooted tree, and, in separate incidents, a large billboard and two walls collapsed in Thane city, officials said.
In neighbouring Palghar, strong winds blew away the tin-roofed sheds and uprooted trees in a residential school, they said, adding that all 350 students at the establishment were safe.
Train services on the busy Mumbai-Pune route were suspended early Monday after heavy rains triggered landslides in the Karjat-Lonavala Bhor Ghat section, officials said.
The Central Railway suspended local train services between Karjat and Khopoli in Raigad district after heavy rains washed away the ballast (gravel bed supporting the tracks) between Lowjee and Dolavli stations, they said.
Some parts of Palghar district recorded nearly 300 mm of rainfall in just two hours, worsening the situation by 9 am.
Heavy rains and severe waterlogging paralysed Western Railway (WR) operations, leaving more than 20 long-distance trains stranded across various stations in Mumbai and south Gujarat, as per officials.
More than 40 services were impacted, with at least eight trains rescheduled, 10 cancelled, and several others diverted or short-terminated due to heavy rain, waterlogging and a landslide, a WR spokesperson said.
Five flights arriving at the Mumbai airport were diverted to other facilities till 3:30pm on Monday due to bad weather in the metropolis, officials said.
In a statement, the Mumbai International Airport said IndiGo flights 6E 595 (Raipur – Mumbai) and 6E 1340 (Singapore – Mumbai) were diverted to Hyderabad, while Akasa Air QP 1110 (Delhi – Mumbai) was diverted to Ahmedabad. (PTI)
