Incessant heavy rain lashed Mumbai, prompting the meteorological department to upgrade the 'orange' alert to 'red' with effect from Wednesday night till Thursday afternoon, officials said.
The red alert, predicting heavy to very heavy rainfall at a few places and extremely heavy rainfall at isolated places, is valid from 8 pm on Wednesday till July 27 afternoon, which applies to Mumbai city and suburban areas, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation said in a statement quoting IMD Mumbai.
The BMC also announced a holiday for all municipal, government and private primary, secondary and higher secondary schools and all colleges in the city and suburbs on July 27, 2023.
Earlier in the afternoon, the India meteorological department issued an orange alert for the metropolis and neighbouring Thane, Raigad and Palghar districts predicting heavy to very heavy rainfall at a few places for July 26 and 27.
Incessant heavy rain lashed Mumbai the whole day, slowing down road traffic but services of suburban trains remained normal with slight delays.
Several areas, including Fort, Colaba, Nariman Point, Elphinstone Road, Grant Road, and suburbs including Andheri, Marol, Jogeshwari, and Goregaon received more than 100 mm of rainfall in 12 hours ended at 8 pm on Wednesday.
The island city, eastern suburbs, and western suburbs received an average rainfall of 92.82 mm, 80.13 mm, and 94.13 mm, respectively, during the same period, as per the data shared by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation.
The Colaba observatory of IMD recorded 124.8 mm of rainfall in 12 hours ending at 8:30 pm and the Santacruz observatory (Mumbai suburbs) 124 mm during the same period.
The island city received heavy rainfall mainly between 3 pm and 4 pm, while heavy downpours pummelled western suburbs from 6 pm to 7 pm.
No major waterlogging was reported in the metropolis till 8 pm, civic officials said.
Andheri subway, an underpass between Andheri and Jogeshwari railway stations, was closed for traffic a couple of times since morning due to waterlogging.
The heavy rain, however, slowed down road traffic but services of local trains and BEST buses are normal with some delays
A spokesperson of BEST said buses on at least half a dozen routes were diverted in Andheri, Kurla and Aarey Colony due to waterlogging.
BEST operates fleets of buses in greater Mumbai limits and also in Navi Mumbai, Thane, and Mira-Bhayander.
