Heavy rainfall in Mumbai revives memories of 26 July 2005 monsoon fury; 17 flights diverted from airport

Mumbai was lashed by rains on Friday, but the impact was nowhere close to the monsoon fury of 26 July, 2005, when the city received 944 mm rainfall in a single day. The heavy downpour, exactly 14 years later, caused waterlogging and traffic snarls in several parts of Mumbai and also led to flight delays. Intense spells of rain are likely to continue in the districts of Thane, Raigad and Mumbai during next four hours, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said. Fourteen years ago on this date, Mumbai was battered by heavy rainfall, which caused havoc across the city, claiming many lives, and leaving the city paralysed. [caption id=“attachment_7064201” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Heavy rains lashed Mumbai on Friday. PTI[/caption] Meanwhile, sounding an orange alert for Raigad, Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg districts of Maharashtra, the IMD also predicted heavy to very heavy rainfall in Mumbai, Thane and Navi Mumbai in the next 24 hours. “We have issued an orange alert for Raigad, Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg districts. An orange alert is merely a warning for authorities to get prepared, while a red alert directs them to take action as the situation might turn severe,” an IMD official said. “Heavy to very heavy rainfall is likely in Mumbai, Thane, and Raigad districts, while extremely heavy rainfall is likely at isolated places in Palghar district,” the official added. BMC tweeted out its helpline number ‘1916’ for any emergency and further said that IMD had predicted “heavy rainfall with severe thunderstorm, accompanied with lightning, expected all through the night”. An IMD official also said that the intensity of the rains is only expected to decrease from Saturday afternoon or evening. Light to moderate rain is expected on Sunday. IMD deputy director general KS Hosalikar tweeted, “Rainfall in last 24 hours at 6.30 am in Mumbai and around: few stations reported heavy rainfall in Mumbai and Navi Mumbai. Rest it was moderate as expected. Today (Friday), watch for more rains, please.” “Today’s rainfall forecast for 24 hours. Heavy rainfall over Konkan region, including Mumbai. Moderate rainfall upto 40 millimetres in Vidarbha and some parts of Marathwada, south central Maharashtra,” he said in another tweet. Seventeen inbound flights were diverted from the Mumbai airport on Friday as the city witnessed heavy downpour, airport authorities said in Mumbai. The flights were diverted to nearby airports and four flights had to do ‘go-around’ before they could land, a spokesperson of the Mumbai airport told PTI in the evening. The Colaba observatory recorded 19.1 millimetres of rain in the 24 hours ending 8.30 am on Friday, while the Santacruz weather station recorded 44 millimetres during that period. The last two days of rainfall in Mumbai caused waterlogging in several parts of the city, including Sion, Matunga, Mahim, Andheri, Malad and Dahisar, which led to traffic snarls at several major junctions. With inputs from PTI