Mumbai: The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Saturday evening predicted "heavy to very heavy" rains in Mumbai, including "extremely heavy" rain in isolated places, for Sunday. The city and its adjoining areas received torrential rainfall throughout Saturday.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said it was prepared for the onslaught and asked citizens to be careful.
"BMC has alerted its citizens about the possibility of extremely heavy rainfall tomorrow accompanied by lightning during the day. The civic machinery, including the Disaster Management Cell, has been put on alert," a civic body spokesperson said. He Wherever required, ward officials have been asked to visit areas in their jurisdiction to monitor the situation on ground, the official added.
Heavy rains led to the cancellation of 11 flights and diversion of nine incoming aircraft to nearby airports. But operations at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport remained normal otherwise, said an airport official.
"As many as 11 flights of various airlines are cancelled for today (Saturday). These include seven departures and four arrivals," an official of the Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL) said. "In addition to this, nine flights scheduled to arrive in Mumbai have been diverted to other nearby airports due to rains and other issues."
Of the seven departures, budget carrier IndiGo cancelled five, while Air India and Emirates cancelled one each.
Earlier on Saturday, a multi-agency operation was carried out to rescue 1,050 passengers stranded on the long-distance Mahalaxmi Express near Badlapur in Thane after the railway tracks were flooded following heavy rainfall. The train was marooned near Vangani in Thane after heavy rains caused the Ulhas river to breach its banks. They were rescued by NDRF, Army, Navy, Air Force and railway teams around 3pm after a 17-hour ordeal.
The passengers later left from Kalyan to Kolhapur on a special 19-coach train.
In a statement on Saturday evening, the Central Railway said the passengers continued their onward journey in the special train that left from Kalyan at 6:10 pm. The train will reach Kolhapur via Manmad, Pune and Daund, said Central Railway chief public relations officer Sunil Udasi.
The Indian Air Force also airlifted more than 120 people stuck in different parts of Thane district due to flash floods triggered by heavy rains.
The state government on Saturday extended the time for reporting for round 2 of the 'centralised admission process' (CAP) for engineering courses by two days in view of the heavy rains. State Higher Education Minister Vinod Tawde confirmed that reporting for CAP round 2 has been extended till July 29.
For pharmacy admission, time for online filing of CAP round 3 options form has been extended by a day, till July 28. (With inputs from agencies)
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