Mumbai: As the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) experienced its first shower on Saturday evening, three people were killed by electrocution, and flights and local train traffic in the city were severely hit.
A release from the municipal corporation’s disaster control room identified the deceased as Anil Yadav (32), Sara Khan (9) and Omkar Phadtare (10).
Rain and thundershower, along with gusty winds, lashed parts of Thane, Kalyan, Dombivli, Ambernath, Navi Mumbai, Vasai and Virar from Saturday evening onward.
According to the disaster management cell of TMC, Thane recorded 12MM rain between 7.30 PM and 11.30 PM. In the evening, light rain was recorded in the suburbs including Goregaon, Andheri, Borivli, Kandivli, Dahisar, Chembur, and Santacruz.
The weather bureau has termed the rainfall as pre-monsoon showers. “Land heating over the past few days allows the formation of tall clouds that leads to thundershowers. Mumbai and surrounding areas can expect more such showers over the next three days,” said KS Hosalikar, deputy director general, western region, IMD.
Flight operations at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport were hit with delays in arrivals and departures and diversions of several domestic, international and cargo flights.
Several areas of Mumbai suburbs and surroundings experienced brief power outages and snapped cable connections this evening following a technical snag in the Interconnecting Transformer of the MSETL in Kalwa on Friday.
Tata Power said that after the Kalwa incident on Friday, its Trombay Thermal Power Station and other Hydro Units functioned full capacity to meet Mumbai’s power requirements and thus prevented load-shedding.
Meanwhile, in view of the storm warnings in and around Mumbai, all civic and disaster units remained in a state of high alert to tackle any emergencies that may arise.
On account of the welcome showers, temperatures dipped sharply in Mumbai, from the average of 35 to around 26 degrees, as the citizens enjoyed a respite from the hot humid weather since the past few days.
