Raigad bears the brunt as Tauktae howls past Mumbai towards Gujarat

Sheets of rain and high winds battered Mumbai as cyclone Tauktae grazed past coastal Maharashtra on Monday and barrelled towards Gujarat Already slowed down by the Covid19 pandemic Mumbai life came to a grinding halt after gusts over 100 km per hour uprooted over 600 trees and damaged about 25 houses Across the state Tauktae left six people dead and nine injured said a release from the Chief Ministerrsquos Office Seven people were injured in the city while three people are missing at sea said authoritiesHuge waves hit the coast at Girgaum Chowpatty on Monday PicSuresh KarkeraCyclone Tauktae forced airport authorities to shut operations for the most part of the day and left its impact on local and BEST services as wellAcross Maharashtra authorities shifted 12500 people to safer places Initial information said the cyclone affected some 2500 structures of which six were completely destroyed Thane Raigad Palghar Ratnagiri Sindhudurg Pune Kolhapur and Satara were among the worst affected districts said the CMO adding that though the situation was much less dangerous than earlier thought rescue and relief measures were already put in placeThe government said it ensured uninterrupted power supply to Covid19 centres Also Read Cyclone Tauktae a wakeup call ahead of monsoonTree falls waterloggingIn just six hours the city received between 100mm and 120mm rainfall that inundated important roads and junctions from Hindmata at Parel to Yoginagar in Borivli Vehicles and citizens on foot struggled to cross the flooded streets Water entered civicrun Nair hospital ldquoThe water hasnrsquot affected any patientrdquo said dean Dr Ramesh BharmalA child enjoys the rainy and windy day in Kurla oblivious to the terror triggered by Taukte PicSayyed Sameer AbediThe BMC received 4848 distress calls during the dayAs Tauktae headed for Gujarat as an ldquoextremely severe cyclonerdquo wind speed topped 114 km per hour in Mumbai About 215 trees crashed damaging cars and blocking roads in south Mumbai In the western suburbs 303 trees were uprooted while 93 trees could not withstand the strong winds in the eastern suburbsWaterlogged streets prompted opposition corporators to accuse the Shiv Senaruled BMC of not getting nullahs cleaned diligently Rais Shaikh of Samajwadi Party said ldquoIt shows how Mumbai is prepared for the rain Even after spending crores of rupees the city faces waterlogging Even the pumping stations failed to work properlyrdquo Rakhi Jadav of NCP claimed an underconstruction bridge over LaxmiBaug nullah collapsed causing floodingThis Kandivli manrsquos umbrella is no match to the mighty winds brought in by Tauktae PicSatej ShindeHouses collapseThe civic body said 26 houses collapsed on Monday including 15 on the southern side Four people were injured in one such incident at Suman Nagar Chembur Two women got hurt after a crane collapsed at Saisrushti building Kajupada Borivali eastTwo missing 1 feared deadIn two incidents two persons are missing and another two are stranded on a boat in the sea Officials said an anchored boat near Madh jetty burst due to the cyclonic storm Of the five people on board four were rescued while the fifth person is feared deadUprooted trees block a road at Shivaji Park PicAshish RajeSeveral flights divertedChhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport was forced to suspend its operations for nine hours on Monday leading to many flights being divertedldquoIn the wake of the alert a few airlines have decided to cancel services to Mumbairdquo airport authorities said It registered the cancellations of 34 arrivals and 22 departures ldquoPassengers are advised to connect with their respective airlines before leaving their homes More updates will followrdquo One SpiceJet flight was diverted to Surat an Indigo flight had to return back to Lucknow and another Indigo flight was diverted to HyderabadFlooded tracks locals hitAs the cyclone passed over the city its lifeline was affected in many parts due to trees getting uprooted and roof sheets flying away Central Railway services were intermittently disrupted even as Western Railway ones largely remained functionalA man lugs his twowheeler through the flooded Gandhi Market Road in Sion PicPradeep DhivarThe day started with tree branches falling on overhead wires and a local train between GhatkoparVikhroli section on Kalyanbound slow line due to gusty winds While slow line trains were diverted to the fast lane between MatungaMulund stations the line was cleared after 11 amAt Mumbai CSMT and Byculla stations a few sheets from the roof were blown away leaving gaping holes The false ceiling at the passenger reservation centre of Kalyan station collapsed Since it was lunchtime no booking clerks were present there said officialsFollowing heavy rain and waterlogging near Masjid Bunder station harbour line services were suspended between 120 pm to 240pm Later tree branches fell on the CSMTbound harbour line track damaging the overhead wires between Sewri and Cotton Green The line was restored at 445pmOn Western Railway one fibre sheet fell on the tracks at Dahisar station while another damaged overhead wire on the Dahanubound local line A huge tree fell between Churchgate and Marine Lines delaying services in the eveningThe lowlying Sion station bears the look of a rainbattered JulyAugust day on Monday PicPradeep DhivarMonorail suspended operations on MondayTill 8pm 109 buses were stranded due to waterlogging Of these 60 had been fixed at the time of going to printHelpless MumbaikarsAs the cyclone lashed the city at 120 km per hour 479 trees fell on houses and parked vehicles Many citizens lost their roof to strong winds while fishermenrsquos boats were damaged and one is even missingCitizens alleged that their calls to the BMC the city police or the State Disaster Response Force SDRF didnrsquot yield any help An SDRF official said ldquoIt was impossible for us to reach all the spots at a time as we donrsquot have enough staff We also did not have adequate manpower to chop off fallen trees Moreover we donrsquot have sufficient hacksaws that are used for cutting treesrdquoDamaged boats at Madh JettySenior inspector Zubeda Shaikh of Parksite police station said ldquoA huge tree fell on our police car and we called up the BMC for help But the locals came before that and removed the fallen treerdquo At Madh Jetty and Khar Danda around 2530 anchored boats were damaged after they crashed into each other said fishermen Four fishermen also fell into the sea but only three could be pulled out One of them is still missing Kiran Koli president of the Maharashtra Machhimar Kruti Samiti has demanded financial aid to the fishermen whose boats were damaged due to the cycloneThreefour houses in a chawl outside Marve Queen society in Malvani were completely damaged when a huge tree fell on it around 2 pm Residents called up civic officials and police but got no help till late night BMC officials who visited the site told residents that they donrsquot have enough hacksaws to chop off fallen treesA shattered roof of a house in MalvaniRiders were seen pushing their bikes on the Vashi bridge as balancing the vehicle while riding got difficult due to the strong winds a biker said120 MMAmount of rain received by city in six hours4848No of distress called made to BMC3Missing in the sea215Trees uprooted in south Mumbai