Rain hits normal life in Mumbai
mumbai — Torrential rain battered Mumbai and its suburbs for the second day on Wednesday, causing massive disruption in flight operations, delaying suburban train services and forcing a large number of people to stay indoors, officials said. However, no deaths or major damage to property were reported.
Schools and colleges in Mumbai metropolitan region were ordered closed in view of heavy rains.
“Several parts of the metropolis, including South Mumbai, Borivali, Kandivili, Andheri and Bhandup, received heavy rainfall. However, no untoward incident has been reported so far from any part of the city,” an official of the BMC, the city’s civic body, said.
Air services at the Mumbai airport were hit badly, with 108 flights cancelled and another 51 diverted to nearby airports till this morning due to heavy rain and closure of the main runway after a Spice Jet aircraft skidded, overshot the runway and got stuck in mud, blocking it, an airport official said. Efforts are on to tow the aircraft away and clear the runway for operations.
The NOTAM (notice to airmen) period has been further extended to 6pm, which means that flight operations cannot be take place till that time, the official said. Following the downpour, several airlines issued travel advisories to passengers.
The city’s suburban railway system, which caters to about 7 million passengers every day, was also in a mess, with trains running late. Traffic on the low lying harbour line was suspended for a brief period early on Wednesday but resumed. — PTI