Pre-monsoon showers claim 3 lives in Mumbai
Pre-monsoon showers lashed several parts of the Mumbai metropolitan region on Saturday evening (Picture Courtesy: @gauravtoph/Twitter)
At least three people died due to electrocution in the aftermath of the pre-monsoon showers and strong winds that lashed several parts of the Mumbai metropolitan region on Saturday evening.
The rains started on yesterday evening in many parts of Mumbai, Thane, Palghar, Raigad and Ratnagiri after dense cloud formation since late afternoon, and later developed into a thunderstorm with lightning and incessant drizzling.
In the first rain-related tragedy, two persons including a minor girl were electrocuted when they came in contact with a live wire during heavy rains in Khindipada of Bhandup West.
The victims, Anil Yadav (32) and Zara Yunus Khan (9), were rushed to the M.T. Agarwal Hospital in Mulund, but were declared dead.
In the second such incident, Om Fadtare (23) died of electrocution in Bhandup East.
The rainfalls also affected flight operations at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport, with several domestic, international and cargo flights experiencing delays.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD), Mumbai issued a storm warning for Thane and surroundings, with chances of thunderstorms, lightning, strong winds and rains in many parts today evening.
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.
“To minimize the inconvenience, we have ensured that the Reliance Energy’s Dahanu Power Plant runs at its full capacity of 500 MW. We may continue rotational load-shedding in some areas till normalcy is restored in the grid to reduce discomfort to our customers,” a Reliance Energy spokesperson said this evening.
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.
The showers did provide some respite to Mumbaikars as temperatures dipped sharply from the average of 35 to around 26 degrees.
