Rain fury claimed 27 lives in Maharashtra, including 18 in a wall collapse in Mumbai, while the authorities declared a holiday in the city and adjoining regions, asking people to avoid stepping out of their houses.
Eighteen people were killed and over 50 injured in a wall collapse in the northern suburb of Malad in Mumbai early Tuesday following heavy rains.
Altogether 54 flights were diverted and 52 cancelled at Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport due to inclement weather.
A SpiceJet flight from Jaipur skid and overshot the main runway while landing at the Mumbai airport amid heavy rains on Monday, although none of the passengers were hurt in the incident, an airline spokesperson said.
A domestic flight that skidded off the main runway late Monday night during heavy monsoon rains is see at the Mumbai airport in Mumbai Source: AAP
A wall collapsed on hutments in Pimpripada area of Malad East due to heavy rainfall. A senior NDRF official told reporters at the site that his team searched the debris with advanced equipment and also by canine search for bodies.
In the incident in Kalyan, the wall of an Urdu school behind Durgai Fort collapsed around 1 am, killing three people in the huntsmen adjacent.
Heavy rains also saw a joint evacuation operation in suburban Kurla with the NDRF, Navy and fire brigade shifting some 1,000 people to temporary shelters, a Navy official said.
A Navy team encountered extreme water logging and abandoned vehicles, preventing their own vehicles from reaching the site, the official added.
The team moved on foot, carrying safety gear like lifebuoys and lifejackets and was able to help elderly women and children to safer areas.
Authorities declared Tuesday as a public holiday in Mumbai as the Indian Meteorological Department forecast heavy rains.
Students, who were supposed to come to Mumbai on Tuesday for their documents verification for the undergraduate admission in MBBS, BDS and BAMS courses, have now been given the date of July 5, for the same procedure, CET Commissioner Anand Rayate said.
Rescuers of the National Disaster Response Force stand at the spot after heavy rainfall caused a wall to collapse onto shanties, in Mumbai, India. Source: AAP
The Mumbai University also postponed the exam of B.Sc Computer Science for first and second-year students due to heavy rains.
Over long-distance trains of the central and western railways were either cancelled or terminated ahead of final destination due to heavy rainfall.
Opposition parties Tuesday lashed out at the ruling Shiv Sena and BJP for the loss of lives due to wall collapse incidents in Mumbai and Pune and attributed them to "corruption".
Maharashtra Congess chief Ashok Chavan alleged that Bandra's Kala Nagar, where Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray resides, faced water-logging and demanded the saffron party, which heads the BMC, apologise to citizens for "submerging" the city.
Taking a dig at Thackeray, Chavan said Mumbai would not have flooded had the Shiv Sena chief overseen pre-monsoon drainage cleaning works instead of "taking out party MPs" to temples post Lok Sabha elections.
NCP leader Dhananjay Munde criticised the ruling Shiv Sena-BJP over water logging in Mumbai and demanded structural audits of roads, bridges and buildings in Mumbai following the wall collapse incidents.
The heavy downpour also forced Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to cancel his scheduled groundbreaking function of the construction of a new building for MLAs.
The Meteorological Department has warned of "extremely heavy" rainfall in adjoining areas of Thane and Palghar on July 2, 4 and 5. A few places in Mumbai could get heavy to very heavy rainfall Monday and Tuesday, it added.
Private weather agency Skymet said Mumbai is at "serious risk of flooding" between July 3 and 5. "Close to 200 mm or more rain per day is likely during this period, which could hamper normal life," it said.
