New Delhi:
Mumbai and suburbs witnessed heavy pre-monsoon showers on Monday night, bringing people some respite from sweltering heat. It is the first pre-monsoon showers in the south Mumbai region, said an IMD official. Eastern parts of the city have already witnessed light showers and drizzle.
Areas like Colaba in south Mumbai, western suburbs of Santacruz, Malad, Kandivali and Borivali along with Kurla, Ghatkopar and Vikroli also received good spells of showers, accompanied by thunder and lightning. Movement of Mumbai's life line, suburban trains, was affected near Kopar station due to some technical issues triggered by rain.
Harbour line services that are part of the Central Railway were running normal.
Flight operations at the Mumbai airport were also put on hold after heavy rains brought down visibility below the required limit, a Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL) spokesperson said. "Due to heavy rains the visibility has gone down and the operations is on hold for the last 13 minutes," the spokesperson said in a voice message.
Due to this, a Newark-bound United Airlines flight from the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj international airport was diverted to Delhi, the spokesperson said. "Runway 09x27 (the main runway) will be handed over to the air traffic control any time soon to restart operations,"she said.
On Sunday, there were rains and a dust storm in the city. The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) had predicted partly cloudy sky in the morning hours with the possibility of rain or thundershowers accompanied with squall for the city on Monday.
