Heavy Mumbai rains: Airport runway operations halted for an hour; one dead in treefall at Kurla
Heavy rains in Mumbai on Sunday (July 5, 2026) impacted flight operations for an hour at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport in Mumbai and also
Heavy rains in Mumbai on Sunday (July 5, 2026) impacted flight operations for an hour at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport in Mumbai and also led to waterlogged streets as well as treefall incidents, in which one person lost his life, officials said. Also read: Monsoon tracker on July 5, 2026 The India Meteorological Department (IMD) had issued a ‘red’ alert for extremely heavy rain for the metropolis, where several areas recorded more than 200 millimetres and some got a whopping 300 mm downpour in a 24-hour period. Four IndiGo flights were cancelled and 13 arriving aircraft of various operators were diverted to nearby airports as heavy rains and gusty winds forced Mumbai international airport authorities to suspend all runway operations for an hour on Sunday (July 5, 2026), sources said. The 13 flights that were diverted due to bad weather, however, landed back in Mumbai later, they added.
Mumbai International Airport, which is jointly owned by Adani Group and Airports Authority of India (AAI), said in a statement, “At approximately 10.17 am, adverse weather conditions, including strong gusty winds of up to 42 knots and reduced visibility due to heavy rain, impacted runway operations.” As per procedure, runway operations were “temporarily suspended” to ensure the safety of passengers, aircraft and ground personnel, the private airport operator said in the statement. Following improvement in weather conditions, normal runway operations resumed after an hour, it added. According to the live flight tracking website flightradar24.com’s latest data, some 90% of outbound flights were departing with a delay of an average of 65 minutes and 45% of the incoming flights were arriving late at Mumbai International Airport. In the second such incident in a week, a 63-year-old man was killed on Sunday (July 5, 2026) after a tree collapsed on a shop during heavy rainfall in the Kurla area.
Civic officials said the incident occurred around 12:40 p.m. near Hindi BMC School in the Naupada locality of Kurla West. Yunus Kundawala was extricated from the debris and rushed to Fauzia Hospital, where doctors declared him brought dead, they added. On June 30, an 11-year-old boy was killed and several others were injured after a tree fell onto a moving school bus in Chembur. Videos that surfaced on social media on Sunday (July 5, 2026) showed a tree collapsing in front of industrialist Mukesh Ambani’s security convoy in the Bandra area of the metropolis, briefly obstructing traffic. BMC’s network of automatic rain gauges recorded more than 200 mm of rainfall at several locations across Mumbai during the 24 hours ending at 8 am on Sunday (July 5, 2026), with a couple of places receiving over 300 mm. The highest rainfall of 310.6 mm was recorded at the Building Proposal Office in Vikhroli West, followed by Colaba Pumping Station (306.6 mm) and Tagore Nagar Municipal School in Vikhroli (301.8 mm).
The BriefWire