Dozens of people have died after torrential monsoon rainfall caused severe flooding in parts of Mumbai and the state of Maharashtra, India.
The heavy rain began on 01 July, 2019. India Meteorological Department (IMD) reported that 375.2mm of rain fell at Santacruz, Mumbai, in 24 hours to 02 July. This is the highest daily rainfall total for 14 years according to IMD. Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said in a statement that Mumbai had seen more rain in the last 3 days than it would normally see for the whole of June.
Maharashtra authorities closed some public offices and schools and declared a public holiday as roads turned to rivers bringing traffic to standstill. The Chief Minister’s Office advised people to stay indoors unless there is any emergency and
Greater Mumbai’s Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) responded to over 1,000 calls for assistance. Teams from the country’s navy and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) have been deployed to flood-hit areas. BMC said that 1,000 people were pre-emptively evacuated in the Kurla neighbourhood due to the overflowing Mithi river.
Rail transport has also been badly affected and several suburban and regional trains suspended leaving thousands of commuters stranded. Western Rail said that some rail tracks were under water up to 1.5 metres deep. Flights were interrupted due to the closure of a runway at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport.
Local media reported that 24 people died in the slum areas of Malad East, Mumbai, when a wall collapsed destroying several makeshift homes. The death toll may increase as more are feared missing under the debris. Another wall collapsed in Kalyan, causing at least 3 fatalities. At least 6 people died when a building collapsed in Pune on 02 July.
Eight more deaths were reported by NDRF on 03 July after the Tiware dam in Ratnagiri district, washing away 12 houses. Fifteen people are thought to be still missing and search and rescue operations are continuing.
Social Media
#IndianNavy deploys various teams to provide relief to rain hit and stranded Mumbaikars in Kurla area @Dev_Fadnavis @CMOMaharashtra @PIBMumbai @DDNewsHindi @SpokespersonMoD @rajnathsingh @DefenceMinIndia @airnewsalerts @nitin_gadkari @RanveerOfficial @meghnagulzar pic.twitter.com/hkIGFZNJI0
— SpokespersonNavy (@indiannavy) July 2, 2019
#NDRF @ Tiware, Maharashtra #COMMITTED2HELP@satyaprad1@PIBHomeAffairs @ndmaindia pic.twitter.com/QkDLkJLvyP
— NDRF (@NDRFHQ) July 3, 2019
#NDRF @ Malad, MUMBAI #COMMITTED2HELP@satyaprad1 pic.twitter.com/SczSRyJtPo
— NDRF (@NDRFHQ) July 2, 2019
3 wall collapse incidents in Mumbai & Pune due to heavy rains in the area. #TEAMNDRFINDIA pained at the unfortunate loss of precious lives. Takes part with other agencies in the rescue/relief efforts & saving innocent lives.#COMMITTED2HELP @NDRFHQ @HMOIndia @PMOIndia @ndmaindia pic.twitter.com/0Ahi66VuD2
— ѕαtчα n prαdhαn, dírєctσr gєnєrαl,ndrf (@satyaprad1) July 2, 2019
#Clarification #Mumbai Airport is not closed. As there is a skidding of a flight at main runway, the main runway is closed for operation.
Alternate Runway is in operation & some flights r diverted to Goa. Because of this some flights r rescheduled.#MumbaiRainsLive #MumbaiRain pic.twitter.com/hIEFc2UpWI— MAHARASHTRA DGIPR (@MahaDGIPR) July 2, 2019
