Mumbai washed out, again; Sobo worst-hit
RETURN OF MAYHEM Heavy rain leads to waterlogging, tree collapses, partial house collapses, signages of prominent buildings flying away; major losses averted owing to lockdown
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MUMBAI : If not for the pandemic and lockdown, Mumbai would have witnessed monsoon mayhem on Wednesday, with citizens stranded in trains and at railway stations, roads waterlogged and hours-long traffic snarls. Nevertheless, the heavy rain with gusty winds led to several incidents of severe waterlogging, tree collapses, partial house or building collapses with properties damaged as signages of prominent buildings got blown away.
The island city, especially south Mumbai, was the most affected and many new locations that have never been inundated during the monsoon in the previous years such as Girgaum Chowpaty, Nariman Point, and Babulnath were heavily waterlogged. No injuries were reported. According to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), waterlogging was reported at nine prominent locations in the island city, four locations in the eastern suburbs, and three locations in the western suburbs, with many areas submerged in two- or three-ft deep water. A total of 142 instances of tree or branch collapses were reported across the city, of which 112 were reported from the island city alone, 13 from the western suburbs, and 16 from the eastern suburbs.
According to the India Meteorological department (IMD), the Colaba weather observatory recorded 229.6mm rain in nine hours (8.30am to 5.30pm), heaviest rain for the season for south Mumbai, and the Santacruz observatory recorded 65.8mm. Wind speed was 65kmph gusting to a maximum of 72kmph in south Mumbai between 4pm and 5pm. The visibility was less than 600m. A high tide of 4.41-m was reported at 1.19pm, and 1.4-m at 7.27pm.
Waterlogging was reported at Hindmata, Dadar TT junction, Gandhi Market in Sion, MIES college, Gol Deol, JJ junction, Thakurdwar junction, Shaikh Mistry Dargha road, and Bhendi Bazar junction; Andheri subway, Dahisar subway, and National College at Bandra in the western suburbs; Postal Colony, Chembur, Chunabhatti Bunder Bhavan, CMT Kurla Road, and around Mankhurd railway station in the eastern suburbs. The government-run JJ hospital witnessed waterlogging at the emergency ward. All patients were shifted to other wards. “Thankfully, due to heavy rain, we didn’t get many emergency cases,” said Dr Ranjit Mankeshwar, dean of the hospital.
The signage of Bombay Stock Exchange, atop the BSE building at Fort was blown away due to gusty winds. Ashish Chauhan, CEO of BSE tweeted on Wednesday evening, “The signage on top of the BSE building toppled due
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(Source: BMC automatic weather station data)
Dahanu saw rain, Bhayander rain, Mira Road
Dahisar Borivli and Malad Thane recorded Bhiwandi Ulhasnagar Kalyan and Ambernath In the western suburbs, Bandra recorded the highest rainfall at Other areas in Maharashtra that witnessed extremely heavy rain include Mahabaleshwar Baramati
and Ratnagiri to heavy wind and incessant rain today. We are seeking the help of fire brigade to ensure that the signage doesn’t fall to the ground and injure anyone or create property damage for anyone. Please bear with us.”
Mumbai also reported six instances of partial house collapses, where a wall or balcony of a building collapsed, three of which were in the island city, and three in the eastern suburbs.
BMC repeatedly urged citizens to stay indoors, or stay put. Maharashtra minister for environment, Aaditya Thackeray tweeted: “Requesting all to remain indoors. Mumbai is lashed with high velocity winds and extremely heavy rain as we all can witness .... While we’ve asked all to stay home, the police and urban/ rural local bodies staff are on streets and are braving the stormy rains. Please stay home and stay put wherever indoors you are across the entire belt receiving rains.”
BMC on Wednesday evening said, “All officials of the fire brigade and the gardens department are out on the streets, removing collapsed trees off the streets to ensure smooth traffic.”
Local train services were severely impacted on both the central and western line. Local trains on the CR were suspended due to waterlogging between Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) and Thane and on the harbour railway line between CSMT and Vashi railway stations. On WR, a tree fell on overhead wires between Marine Lines and Churchgate railway station. Services were suspended between Churchgate and Mumbai Central stations. BEST diverted its buses on more than 32 routes in the city.
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Independent meteorologists said the wind speed was extremely high due to the formation of a vortex over Mumbai associated with other weather factors. "As the Bay of Bengal system moved over Odisha and combined with the vortex formation, it created a pull effect intensifying winds... Both the Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea remain active and winds will be high till Thursday," said prof Sridhar Balasubramanian, dept of mechanical engineering and IDP Climate Studies, IIT-B Akshay Deoras, independent meteorologist and PHD researcher at the University of Reading, explained a vortex forms in an environment where there is some spin in the atmosphere such as that caused by an offshore trough in the current case. "As the vortex intensifies, air gets pushed upwards, reducing the air pressure on the surface. This ultimately intensifies the surface wind around the vortex," he said.
Upper Vaitarna