Over 30 killed as heavy rain batters Mumbai
MUMBAI: Torrential rain from a thunderstorm, described by meteorologists as “monstrous”, hammered Mumbai in the early hours on Sunday, flooding low-lying areas, triggering landslides, house collapses and electrocutions that resulted in the deaths of at least 31 people, officials said.
The island city received 235mm of rain in four hours (between 12am and 4am) on Sunday, according to weather officials, hours after a similar extreme weather event resulted in the season’s highest daily rainfall (253mm) on Friday.
The suddenness and intensity of Sunday morning’s downpour made it one of the most intense rain spells since the 2005 cloudburst, when a record 944mm downpour was recorded in the country’s financial capital in a single day.
The heavy rain, which environment minister Aaditya Thackeray labelled as a “mini cloudburst”, triggered two landslides — the first in east Mumbai’s Chembur where 19 people were killed, and the second in the suburb of Vikhroli, where at least 10 people lost their lives.
In both instances, landslides crushed the houses with people sleeping inside.
Rescuers were seen trying to dig through the debris using their hands in an attempt to find survivors, and officials said they feared more people may still be trapped. A 16-year-old boy was killed in a house collapse in the city’s Bhandup suburb, while one man was electrocuted to death in Andheri West, officials said.
The first landslide was reported around 1am in the New Bharat Nagar area of Chembur, where a wall collapsed on several shanties. Around five houses, where people were sleeping, were the ones worst effected and a total of 19 people were killed, including four minors. Five people were reported wounded in the incident.
Around 3am, another landslide was reported in the Surya Nagar area of Vikhroli, where seven-to-eight houses were crushed, resulting in the death of at least 10 people, officials said.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) termed both the landslides as “natural calamities”, and said that the houses were “illegally built” on government land and that it had already appealed to citizens to vacate.
Officials from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), municipal workers, fire brigade and police personnel were engaged in rescue operations at the collapse sites.
At around 5am, a house collapse in Bhandup resulted in the death of a 16-year-old, officials said.
Also at Bhandup, rainwater inundated a water purification complex, disrupting supply “in most of the parts of Mumbai”, civic authorities said. “Efforts are being taken to restore Mumbai’s water supply by restarting the water purification system in the complex... After supply is restored, the administration appeals Mumbaikars to boil water before drinking,” BMC said in a statement on Sunday afternoon.
Later on Sunday morning, 26-year-old man was reportedly electrocuted to his death in a sweet shop at Andheri West.
THE ISLAND CITY RECEIVED 235MM OF RAIN IN FOUR HOURS (BETWEEN 12AM AND 4AM) ON SUNDAY, SAYS WEATHERMAN