Mumbai rains brought down temperatures in the city and surrounding areas.
Highlights
- Pre-monsoon showers hit Mumbai, other areas of Maharashtra
- Several flights delayed or diverted at Mumbai airport
- Civic and disaster bodies on alert to tackle emergencies
Three people, including two children, died due to electrocution as pre-monsoon showers hit Mumbai on Saturday evening. Heavy rain caused water-logging and traffic jams in some parts of the city, slowing down evening rush hour commuters but sharply bringing down the temperature. Thunderstorm and strong winds
also accompanied rainfall in many areas of Thane, Palghar, Raigad and Ratnagiri after dense clouds formed since late afternoon.
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. Jet Airways announced that due to air traffic congestion following adverse weather conditions, delays of up to 45 minutes in departures and arrivals were expected till 11:30 pm on Saturday.
While a SriLankan Airlines Colombo-Mumbai flight was diverted to Ahmedabad, other flights of Jet Airways, GoAir, Qatar Airways and various airlines were also diverted.
Bishwombhar Singh, director in-charge, Regional Weather Forecasting Centre, Mumbai said pre-monsoon showers hit the the city and other parts of Maharashtra as well. "Monsoon is yet to arrive in the state. Pre-monsoon activities are currently seen in entire Maharashtra including Mumbai and Thane," he said.
A statement from the municipal corporation's disaster control room identified those killed as 9-year-old Sara Khan and 10-year-old Omkar Phadtare and 32-year-old Anil Yadav.
Yadav and Khan died after coming in contact with an electric wire while walking down a road in Khindipada area in Bhandup West around 8.30 pm. Omkar Phadtare died of an electric shock in Shivkripa Nagar area near the Bhandup railway station. His friend too was seriously injured and is being treated.
Several areas of Mumbai suburbs and surroundings experienced brief power outages and snapped cable connections following a technical snag in the Interconnecting Transformer of the MSETL in Kalwa on Friday.
Civic and disaster units remained in a state of high alert to tackle emergencies.
The rain lowered temperatures from the average of 35 to around 26 degrees Celsius, as the citizens enjoyed a respite from the hot humid weather since the past few days.
People shared images and videos on social media and "#MumbaiRains" was the top Twitter trend in India on Saturday evening.Monsoon rains hit the Kerala a few days earlier than normal on Tuesday, the weather office said
"The southwest monsoon has set in over the southern state of Kerala, three days ahead of its normal date," the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said in a statement.
Mumbai struggles each year to cope during annual monsoon rains. Unprecedented floods killed more than 500 people in the city in 2005.
(With inputs from PTI)