Cyclone Tauktae: Gusty wind, heavy rains sweep Mumbai; over 50 flights cancelled

Gusty winds along with very heavy rainfall hit Mumbai on Monday morning due to severe cyclone Tauktae that has barrelled towards Gujarat As a result more than 600 trees collapsed across the city mostly in the South and Western suburbs Many parts of the city faced waterlogging Many corporators criticised the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation BMC for not cleaning nullas and accused the civic body of not taking adequate precautions despite being alerted before No loss of human life has been reported in Mumbai However the BMC received 4848 calls distress calls during the dayThe wind speed was reported to be 108 km per hour at Colaba according to IMD while BMC recorded a wind speed of 114 km per hour at Afghan Church at Colaba around 2 pm All other parts of the city recorded less than 100 km per hour windsMore than the rainfall it was the gusty winds that did the damage resulting in several tree falling incidents across the city Around 215 trees collapsed in the south city that led to road blocking damaged vehicles and even damage to structures In the Western suburbs 303 tree collapse incidents were reported while 93 trees collapsed in the Eastern suburbsWaterloggingMany parts of the city got waterlogged during the day The BMC received waterlogging complaints from Mahalaxmi Junction Hindmata Nana Chowk Sakkar Panchayat Chowk Wadala Dadar TT SIES college Sion Bindumadhav junction Worli Grant Road Chandan street Masjid Road Chirabajar Modi streetColaba J J road junction BDD Chawl Andheri subway Oshiwra Bus depot Sainath subway Lokhandwala lane Andheri Malwani Gate no 6 Yoginagar Borivli Yashwant Nagar VakolaAlso read Mumbai airport suspends operation till 10 pmRais Shiekh group leader of the Samajwadi Party accused the BMC of not cleaning the nullahs properly He said ldquoMost parts in the city faced waterlogging in a days rainfall Despite spending crores the city is still getting flooded Even the pumping station failed to work properlyrdquoAlso ReadCyclone Tauktae Personnel on board 2 barges adrift off Mumbai safe says AfconsRakhi Jadhav group leader of the Nationalist Congress Party said ldquoA part of the ongoing construction of a bridge over LaxmiBaug nullah collapsed in the nullah and the area got waterlogged It is happened due to negligence of the bridges departmentrdquoHouse collapsesBMC received 26 complaints of houses collapses out of it 15 were in south city 3 in eastern suburbs and 8 in western suburbs Four people got injured after houses collapsed in Suman Nagar Chembur Two women were injured after a crane collapsed on Saisrushti building Kajupada Borivli east and one woman was hurt after a part of a one storey structure collapsed in Ganesh Nagar Society Andheri WestNair Hospital waterloggedThere was waterlogging that the staff is trying to remove Hasnt affected any patient said Dr Ramesh Bharmal Dean BYL Nair HospitalTwo missing in the seaIn two separate incidents two persons are reported missing and another two are stranded on a boat in the sea As per the report an anchored boat near Madh jetty burst due to the cyclonic storm Out of five people four were rescued and one person is missing and feared dead In another incident a boat went into the sea after the anchor broke down There were five people on the boat while two swam to the shore two were stranded on the boat One person is feared deadMumbai rainfall statsFrom 8 am to 5 pmBandra East 242 mmChincholi Malad 236 mmGrant Road 229 mmWorli Fire Brigade 216 mmParel 216 mmCSMT 191 mmByculla 175 mmGoreagon 204 mmKandivli 206 mmMumbai airport updateWith Cyclone Tauktae hitting Mumbai city in all its might since Sunday night onwards the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport CSMIA was forced to suspend its operations for a total of nine hours on Monday leading to numerous flights being divertedThe airport itself was initially supposed to suspend its operations for only three hours starting 11 AM to 2 PM but due to high velocity of winds and reduced visibility because of the heavy rainfall itrsquos operations were further suspended till 4 PMCivic workers inspect a flooded street at Kings Circle Photo Shadab KhanAs the storm did not show signs of subsiding till late in the afternoon CSMIA announced once again that it was further suspending operations up until 6 PM Another announcement followed within the hour that operations was suspended up until 8 pm and would now be suspended till 10 pm as per latest updatesAt least three flights have been diverted from the Mumbai airport due to the cyclone These include one SpiceJet flight that was diverted to Surat an Indigo flight that had to return back to Lucknow and another indigo flight that was diverted to HyderabadThe airport has so far witnessed a total of seven diversions ldquoIn the wake of the alert a few airlines have decided to cancel services to Mumbairdquo CSMIA has registered the cancellations of 34 arrivals and 22 departuresRailway updateAs the cyclone passed over the city its lifeline the Mumbai local was affected due to incidents of tree branches falling trees getting uprooted and sheets on roofs at railway stations flying away Central Railway services were intermittently disrupted even as Western Railway ones largely remained functionalLocal train services between Ghatkopar and Vikhroli section on Kalyanbound slow line got affected after tree branches fell on the overhead wires due to gusty winds Slow line trains were diverted on the fast line between Matunga and Mulund stations on the Central line A Thanebound local was held up in the section between Ghatkopar and Vikhroli The line remained affected between 910am to 1110amA BEST bus on a waterlogged street near Borivli station Pic Satej ShindeAt Mumbai CSMT station and Byculla station few sheets from the roof flew away due to heavy winds leaving a gaping hole in the roof The false ceiling at Kalyan stationrsquos passenger reservation centre collapsed during lunch time Since it was lunch time no booking clerks were present at the counter and no injuries were reported in the incidentAt around 1145am a loose banner fell on the tracks between Chunabhatti and Guru Tej Bahadur Nagar stations The line was finally restored at 1215pm after a safety clearances Following continuous rainfall and waterlogging near Masjid Bunder station harbour line services were suspended between 120 pm to 240pm Later in the evening tree branches fell on CSMTbound harbour line track damaging the overhead wires between Sewri and Cotton Green The line was restored at 445pmOn Western Railway one plastic fibre sheet from outside fell on tracks near Dahisar It was cleared by the trainrsquos motorman At Virar a sheet from a nearby mall flew off and hit the overhead wires and damaged it infringing a Dahanubound local line The Railway staff fixed the issue quicklyElsewhere a huge tree fall between Churchgate and Marine Lines station around 620 pm delaying evening services An incident of overhead wires getting snapped was reported after a flying sheet at Umroli led to further detention of trainsMumbai Monorail had decided to suspend operations for the day BEST buses were also diverted on several routes and several services cancelled throughout the day