Mumbai Deluged: Heavy Rainfall Causes Traffic Chaos and Flight Diversions; Schools and Colleges Closed Tomorrow
Mumbai, 26th September 2024: Mumbai: Heavy rainfall this evening inundated various roads, causing significant traffic delays and leading to some flight diversions. The city’s municipal authority announced a holiday for schools and colleges on Thursday due to the severe weather.
Airlines including SpiceJet, IndiGo, and Vistara reported on X that multiple flights had to be redirected. Vistara’s flight UK534 from Hyderabad to Mumbai was turned back to Hyderabad because of adverse conditions at Mumbai airport, with an expected landing time of 9:15 PM. Another flight, UK941, from Delhi to Mumbai was also diverted to Hyderabad, anticipated to arrive at 9:10 PM.
SpiceJet advised passengers to check their flight statuses, stating, “Due to adverse weather (heavy rain) in Mumbai, all departures and arrivals, along with their subsequent flights, may be impacted.”
The weather bureau has issued warnings for Mumbai and surrounding areas, forecasting “extremely heavy rainfall.” The India Meteorological Department (IMD) predicts such conditions to persist until Thursday morning.
Since the afternoon, several suburbs have been experiencing significant rainfall, with Mulund and its surrounding regions facing the most severe flooding.
Tragically, in Andheri, a woman fell into an open manhole and lost her life. A search operation was initiated, and her body was recovered.
According to the IMD’s forecast at 5:30 PM, extremely heavy rainfall, thunderstorms, lightning, and gusty winds are expected in isolated locations within Mumbai, Thane, Raigad, and Ratnagiri districts.
IMD scientist Sushma Nair explained that a trough extending from north Konkan to south Bangladesh, influenced by a cyclonic circulation over south Chhattisgarh, is contributing to this weather pattern. She noted that this situation is likely to result in widespread light to moderate rainfall over Konkan and Goa throughout the week.
