MUMBAI: At least six people were killed when a three-storey chawl collapsed in Mumbai’s Mankhurd area amid heavy rains on Sunday night. Earlier in the day, two people were killed in other rain-related incidents on the the fifth day of rain that threw life out of gear in the finacial capital of the country.
While 63-year-old Yunus Kundawala died after a tree fell on a shop amidst heavy rain and strong winds near the Gomes Gown building in the Navpada area of Kurla, 18-year-old Kumar Hasan Raza died after a tree branch fell over his head. He was rushed to a hospital, where he was declared dead.
Earlier, an 11-year-old boy, Ahan Srivastav, died after a tree fell on his school van, while a 60-year-old individual fell and drowned in an uncovered manhole. In a week, four lives were lost to incessant rain. Over 250 tree-falling incidents have been reported across the city, the majority being in South Mumbai. Besides, 15 short-circuit incidents also took place in the city.
Approximately 150 to 170 mm of rain was recorded in Mumbai in the last 24 hours. While 153 mm rainfall was recorded in the Mumbai city division and 121 mm in the eastern suburbs, an average of 93 mm was recorded in western suburbs.
In the pre-monsoon works, the BMC surveyed 1,62,676 trees and pruned 1,300 trees, while 648 dangerous trees were removed. The BMC received 276 tree-felling complaints.
A three-storey vacant building was also reported to have collapsed on Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan Road near Worli Dairy. No casualties were reported in these incidents. In the neighbouring Thane, the wall of Saint Merry English Medium School collapsed on Sunday.
Meanwhile, flight operations at the Mumbai airport were suspended Sunday for an hour amid the strong winds and heavy rains. Thirteen fights were diverted to the neighbouring airports, while four were cancelled.
City schools and colleges shut, red alert sounded
The IMD has issued a red alert on Monday in Mumbai, Raigad and Thane. In view of this, Mumbai and the Raigad administration announced a holiday for schools and colleges. The Opposition held the ruling party and civic administration responsible for all the deaths.