Cyclone Tauktae: Rain, strong winds in Mumbai; local train services hit

High speed winds and heavy rains lashed Mumbai and its neighbouring areas on Monday as the very severe cyclonic storm Tauktae headed towards Gujarat uprooting trees and disrupting local train services here officials saidIn view of the strong winds the BandraWorli sealink was closed for traffic and people were asked to take alternate routes a senior official of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation BMC saidThe Colaba area in south Mumbai recorded a wind speed of 102 km per hour around 11 am the highest for the day so far IMD Mumbais senior director Shubhangi Bhute saidBetween 830 am and 11 am the IMDs Colaba observatory representative of south Mumbai recorded 794 mm rainfall while the Santacruz observatory representative of suburbs recorded 445 mm rain she saidLocal trains services of the Central Railway were disrupted between suburban Ghatkopar and Vikhroli for about halfanhour as a tree fell on an overhead wire while a train was heading towards neighbouring Thane a railway spokesperson saidServices on the harbour line that provides rail connectivity to Navi Mumbai were also affected after a vinyl banner fell on an overhead wire between Chunabhatti and Guru Tej Bahadur stations around 1145 amThe banner was removed after about halfanhour and train services were resumed he saidDue to the strong wind some plastic sheets covering the roof of the common passenger area between the suburban and main lines at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus CSMT were blown away in the morning he saidThe area was cordoned off and the railway staff immediately attended to it he saidDespite the civic bodys claims of drains having been cleaned as part of preparedness for the upcoming monsoon season there was waterlogging in several lowlying areas of the cityThe Mumbai police tweeted about waterlogging in six lowlying areas including the Hindmata junction Andheri subway and Malad Subway crucial for the eastwest connectivityMore DetailsCyclone Tauktae High tide alert at 344 pm Mumbai airport shut till 4 pmA citizen in a Twitter post claimed a temporary pandal erected for vaccination in Dahisar was partially damaged due to the heavy rain and high velocity winds However civic officials did not confirm itAs a precautionary measure the monorail services in the city were suspended for the day the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority MMRDA saidThis was a prompt decision taken for the safety of commuters the MMRDA saidEarlier in the morning KS Hosalilar head SID Climate Research amp Services IMD Pune in a tweet said TauktaeCyclone Extremely Severe Cyclonic Storm now Mumbai 160 km Veraval Guj 290 km Take care North Konkan Mah coast and GujTauktaeCyclone Extremely Severe Cyclonic Storm nowMumbai 160 kmVeraval Guj 290 kmTake care North Konkan Mah coast and Guj pictwittercom7SiBHIwfsKmdash K S Hosalikar Hosalikar_KS May 17 2021In another tweet he said Mumbai was quite windy and asked citizens to take care and keep a tab on updates from the India Meteorological Department IMDTauktaeCyclone Today morning at 0700 hrs Mumbai much much windy now Overcast Sky now mod rains and can pickup soon No water logging so far Hosalikar tweetedThe IMD forecast moderate to intense spells of rain with gusty winds reaching 90100 kmph are likely to occur at isolated places in Raigad Palghar Mumbai Thane and Ratnagiri districtsAccording to civic officials around 34 incidents of tree fall were reported in Mumbai since Sunday but there no report of any injury to anyoneThe civicrun Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport BEST undertaking has deployed officers of its transport and power wings at various locations including control rooms for disaster managementOn Sunday the IMD issued an orange alert for Mumbai predicting heavy to very heavy rains at isolated places with strong winds on MondayAccording to civic officials the National Disaster Response Force NDRF and the Indian Navy were on alert as Cyclone Tauktae intensified to a very severe cyclonic storm and was passing close to MumbaiSix flood rescue teams of the Mumbai fire brigade were deployed at chowpatties and five temporary shelters each were kept ready in 24 civic wards of the city to shift citizens there if required they said