Monsoon hits Mumbai with a bang; flights, trains, road traffic hit
Mumbai, June 9: The monsoon officially arrived here on Saturday and hit the city and other parts of Maharashtra with full fury, disrupting flights, the suburban train system and road traffic, besides claiming two lives, officials said.
The Indian Meteorological Department has forecast heavy rains with thundershowers in the city and suburbs over the next 48 hours, with isolated extreme heavy rainfall in some areas till Monday.
On Saturday, according to the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), the city was deluged with 76 mm rains till this evening (6 p.m.), and the eastern and western suburbs received 28 mm and 32 mm respectively.
In adjoining Thane, one person was electrocuted and another was killed in a lightning strike at Uttan in Bhayander.
There were at least two incidents of building crashes here as waterlogging was reported from several parts in Mumbai.
At least two firemen were injured when a portion of a dilapidated building on fire suddenly crashed in south Mumbai's Fort area earlier this morning
Four persons sustained minor injuries when the roof slab of a four-storeyed building Munji House crashed at Prabhadevi in central Mumbai late on Friday.
Flights at the Mumbai airport were affected, with Jet Airways announcing delays of around 40 minutes for departures and 20 minutes for arrivals due to congestion and bad weather till 3 p.m.
With a thunderstorm warning forecast over the Delhi Airport, more flight disruptions were expected in Mumbai later on Saturday.
The BMC said despite the heavy rains, flooding was prevented in even the most flood-prone zones in the city because of corrective works carried out in 120 areas.
Waterlogging was reported in parts of central Mumbai like Dadar east, Parel, Sion, Kings Circle and surroundings, with water entering low-lying homes and even the Byculla Police Station which functioned with over six inches of water inside the premises.
One area - the congested Mazagaon in south Mumbai - received a whopping 120 mm rains, resulting in flooding in the residential and commercial zones there.
The flooding resulted in diversions being implemented to prevent traffic snarls, even as vehicular movement was slowed down all over the city.
While the suburban train services on the Central Railway were delayed by around 15 minutes, the services on Western Railway remained largely unaffected by the rains.
In the neighbouring Navi Mumbai, heavy rains with gusty winds uprooted more than a dozen trees leading to huge traffic jams and hampering movement in different parts of the satellite city.
Since Friday night, the coastal districts of Sindhudurg, Ratnagiri, Raigad, Thane and Palghar also continued to be lashed by heavy rains as the monsoon spread wings across the state bringing relief from the sultry heat experienced in the past few weeks.
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Mohali building collapse: Rescue operation underway
Chandigarh (PTI): A rescue operation at the site where a four-storey building collapsed in Sohana village of Punjab's Mohali district continued on Sunday, officials said.
The multi-storey building collapsed on Saturday evening, with at least five people trapped in its rubble. A 20-year-old woman died in the incident on Saturday evening.
The woman hailing from Himachal Pradesh, died after she was pulled out of the debris of the building. She was rescued from the rubble in critical condition and was rushed to a hospital, but she succumbed to her injuries.
The rescue effort continued overnight.
A man hailing from Ambala Cantt told reporters at the site that his 29-year-old son, who used to visit a gym in the building, was missing.
Police have booked two building owners in the incident.
Several excavators were pressed into service as part of the rescue operation.
National Disaster Response Team (NDRF), Army, state rescue teams have been working since Saturday evening to address the crisis. Medical teams, along with an ambulance, have also been deployed at the site since Saturday evening.
As the operation continued at the site, required equipment and machinery have been made available to the rescuers, in addition to those brought by the NDRF and Army.
"IndianArmy reacted swiftly for the rescue. In a remarkable display of coordinated efforts, #IndianArmy Columns along with #NDRF and State rescue teams have been relentlessly working to address the crisis.
"Engineer Task Force with debris clearance machine & JCBs are operational at site. Top debris removed & efforts being done to reach the basement," Western Command, Indian Army, said in a post on X.
After the incident on Saturday, all major hospitals in Mohali such as Civil Hospital (attached within Medical College), Fortis, Max and Sohana, were put on alert to cater to the wounded.
Director General of Police Gaurav Yadav, who was at the spot on Saturday, had said a multi-agency rescue effort was underway.
