The country’s commercial capital reeled under intense extreme spell for the second consecutive day on Wednesday with the city suburbs receiving the second highest rainfall since the July 26, 2005 deluge, even as the authorities extended the closure of main runway at the city airport for flight operations till 6 am on Thursday.
The Mumbai airport bore the maximum brunt of the continued heavy rains and the impact of a mishap that saw a SpiceJet aircraft skid, overshoot the runway and get stuck in the mud, as the main runway remained out of bounds for flight operations all through the day.
As the efforts to extricate the stuck SpiceJet's Varanasi-Mumbai flight no. SG-703 from near the runway 9/27 continued for the entire day, the airport authorities extended the suspension of flight operations on the main runway from 5 am on Wednesday to 6 am on Thursday. Since 10 pm on Tuesday when the main runway was closed for flight operations, the authorities cancelled more than 100 flights.
“The process of removing disabled aircraft is affected due to continuous rains resulting in soft soil in the area. The NOTAM (Notice to Airmen) for closure is being extended up to 0600 hours,” a spokesperson of the Mumbai International Airport limited (MIAl) said late in the evening.
The city suburbs, meanwhile, recorded a rainfall of 303.7 mm during 24 hours ending at 8.30 am on Wednesday, while the Island city registered a rainfall of 210 mm during this period. The city’s eastern and western suburbs registered a rainfall of 59.78 mm and 41.45 mm respectively between 8 am and 4 pm on Wednesday, the Island city recorded a rainfall of 46.30 mm rainfall during the same period. The rainfall (of 303.7 mm) recorded in the city suburbs was the second highest rainfall registered since the July 26, 2005 deluge.
While the city had registered a record 944.2 mm rainfall on July 26, 2005, the city suburbs recorded a staggering 316 mm rainfall on August 29, 2017.
Significantly enough, as many as 24 locations in suburbs received a rainfall of more than 200 mm during 24 hours ending at 8.30 am on Wednesday, as against 23 locations on August 29,2017.
The Regional Meteorological Centre, Mumbai, has meanwhile forecast “intermittent rain/showers in the city and suburbs and heavy rainfall at one or two places during the next 24 hours.
On Wednesday when all schools, colleges and sizeable number of offices remained closed as a precautionary measure, a majority of Mumbaikars chose not to venture out of their homes.
Unlike on August 29, 2017 when there heavy water-logging all over the metropolis, there were no reports of major inundation in the Island city and suburbs. As a result, the suburban train services on Western, Central, harbour and trans-habour networks functioned normally.
“There was no water-logging on tracks on the Central, Harbour and trans-harbour railway networks. Since most of the schools, colleges and a large number of offices were closed, we reduced the frequency of services by 20 per cent. There was no major disruption in services during the day. The trains ran 10 to 15 minutes behind the schedule,” Central Railway spokesperson Sunil Udasi said.
Owing to heavy rains, the Western Railway cancelled 126 suburban train services while it operated 115 locals behind the schedule. The Western Railway cancelled, partially cancelled or short-terminated 14 long-distance trains during the day. “Owing to very heavy rains since last 24 hours and subsequent water logging between Virar & Nallasopara stations of Mumbai Suburban network, UP and Down fast line movement was suspended from 00.40 hrs to 04.45 hrs today,” a WR spokesperson said.
However, there was no major traffic disruption on roads across the metropolis.
Meanwhile, Mumbai's famous Dabbawalas cancelled their normal delivery of 200,000 tiffin boxes to office-goers following heavy rains.
In a related development, a 22-member Zimbabwe Under-19 team, which was supposed to reach Mumbai on Tuesday, was stranded at the Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar International Airport there and later accommodated in local hotels.
In another development, many dams and water reservoirs in various parts of Maharashtra overflowed, following heavy rains. Following the overflow, the irrigation department authorities opened six sluice gates of Koyna, while they released 23,000 cusecs of water Pune’s Khadakwasla dam. Similarly, excess water was released from Bhandardara, Nilawande, Ozar, Damni and Kawdas dams.