Cyclone Nisarga: City’s coast remains clear of major trouble

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation on Wednesday moved at least 20,000 citizens to safe locations and another 30,000 citizens shifted on their own, following

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation on Wednesday moved at least 20,000 citizens to safe locations and another 30,000 citizens shifted on their own, following the advisory for Cyclone Nisarga that made a landfall in the neighbouring coastal Raigad district at 2.45pm on Wednesday.

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Between 8am and 5.30pm, 26.4mm rain was recorded in Colaba and 28.4mm in Santacruz (representative of the suburbs).

The highest wind speed in the city, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), was 74kmph that was reported around 1.30pm.

The city saw 117 tree falls, including 39 in south Mumbai, 40 in the eastern suburbs and 38 in the western suburbs, from 8am to 6pm in the evening, according to BMC data.

BMC also recorded 39 incidents of short-circuits. There were nine house collapses – three in south Mumbai, four in the western suburbs and two in the eastern suburbs.

Those who were evacuated and housed in 35 schools that have been turned into temporary shelters will be kept under observation for a day
and will be screened for temperature and oxygen levels, to detect symptoms of Covid-19, before being permitted to go home.

The BMC said it consulted the Odisha government on how to tackle the situation.

Iqbal Chahal, BMC chief on Wednesday, said, “We have rescued thousands of those residing along the coast, and have kept them in temporary shelters. We are arranging food and water for them, as per requirement. Many migrants have gone back to their home states, but we were feeding many more and that system enabled us to arrange proper food for all those who were evacuated.

Most of them are from the slums and koliwadas on the west coast, including areas such as Colaba, Worli, Versova, Malad, Mahim, Juhu khardanda and Gorai. More than 2,000 fishermen from Colaba and 150 from Worli were evacuated to safe shelters nearby. In G-South ward alone, that covers parts of Worli and Mahalaxmi, 525 people were evacuated.

The BMC officials will now focus on removing fallen trees, electric poles on the roads, check the structural stability of several poles and trees and then continue its drive for fumigating the city for the upcoming monsoon.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, the BMC said its disaster response machinery will remain on high alert for the next few days until the cyclonic effect has passed from the city. Over 500 emergency response team members from NDRF, Mumbai Fire Brigade (MFB) and BMC were on standby.

No untoward incident was reported on all six beaches, where fire personnel and lifeguards have been on standby since Tuesday night.

IMD has also lowered the rainfall warning for Thursday to moderate. KS Hosalikar, DG of meteorology in IMD Mumbai, said, “We are lowering the rainfall warning to moderate rainfall for less than 24 hours. The cyclonic storm is still there somewhere near Pune, but it will soon settle in.”

Heavy rain, however, caused a nullah in Hanuman Nagar, Vikhroli to overflow with silt. The incident came to light when the video went viral. The video was also posted by BJP MLA Ram Kadam. Ajitkumar Ambi, assistant municipal commissioner of N ward (Ghatkopar, Vikhroli), said, “The locals dump their garbage in these drains which led to choking. We cleared it in time.”

Tree falls on tracks

One tree fall was reported between Kurla and Vidyavihar railway stations, while branches of a tree fell on railway tracks at Prabhadevi, along with a tree tilting at Mumbai Central station yard on Wednesday. The CR also stopped the toy train between Aman Lodge and Matheran.

(Inputs from Aroosa Ahmed)