Mumbai rains: All schools to be closed today amid heavy rainfall alert

Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Wednesday ordered the closure of all schools in Mumbai in view of the heavy rainfall alert in the city. Mumbai and neighbouring areas have been getting heavy rainfall for the last two days. The downpour has affected vehicular movement as well as the local train services in Mumbai.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued an 'orange' alert for Mumbai for today and a 'yellow' alert for tomorrow, Thursday. The central weather forecasting agency has issued a 'red' alert for Palghar, Raigad, Pune, and Satara on Wednesday, and an 'orange' alert for Thane, Mumbai, and Ratnagiri.

In its daily weather bulletin, the IMD said extremely heavy rainfall activity is likely to continue over Konkan, Goa, central Maharashtra, and Gujarat on July 19 and isolated heavy to very heavy rainfall thereafter.

Besides Mumbai, Gadchiroli District Collector Sanjay Meena has also declared a holiday for all schools and colleges in the district for tomorrow (July 20) in view of heavy rainfall.

Earlier today, as heavy rains affected the local train services and road traffic, the Maharashtra Chief Minister ordered that government offices in Mumbai and the neighbouring region should be closed early so that employees get more time to reach home. Due to heavy rain, train services on the Kalyan-Kasara section near Mumbai stopped on Wednesday.

The Central Railway diverted some mail and express trains via the Diva-Panvel-Karjat route and Daund-Manmad route, besides the short-termination and cancellation of a few trains between Mumbai and Pune. Mumbai and its neighbouring Thane district received heavy rainfall on Wednesday. Train services on the Kalyan-Kasara section were stopped due to the point failure at around 2.40 pm.

The suburban services between Kalyan and Khopoli (in Raigad) were already affected due to the submerged tracks between Ambarnath and Badlapur stations in Thane since 11 am. Earlier in the day, the official said, "Badlapur-Ambarnath section (UP + DOWN) closed from 11.05 hrs for traffic due to water-logging."

Train services on the Panvel-Belapur Harbour Line route which were affected to a "point failure" at Panvel at 9.40 am were restored by 10 am. The Central Railway operates local train services on its Main Line from Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) in south Mumbai to Kasara in Thane and Khopoli in Raigad district. It also operates suburban services on the Harbour Line from CSMT to Panvel (Raigad) and Goregaon (Mumbai).

(With inputs from PTI)