Mumbai Shuts Schools, Colleges As IMD Issues Red Alert For Heavy Rain In Coastal Districts
Mumbai reeled under persistent rain on Monday as the India Meteorological Department placed the city under an orange alert and issued a red alert for several coastal Maharashtra districts, including Raigad, Ratnagiri, Satara, Kolhapur and Pune. With waterlogging reported at multiple locations—visuals from Sion’s Gandhi Market showed submerged stretches—civic authorities urged residents to avoid non-essential travel.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation declared a holiday for all schools amid the downpour, even as traffic crawled on key corridors such as the Western Expressway near Vile Parle, which links the business district with the suburbs.
The Greater Mumbai Police Chief advised caution as reduced visibility and flooding hampered movement across pockets of the city, asking people to “avoid non-essential travel, plan your commute with care, and step out only if necessary,” and to call emergency helplines 100/112/103 if required.
According to the BMC, Sunday saw six short circuits, 19 instances of tree or branch falls and two wall collapses across the metropolis, with no injuries reported. The civic body’s monsoon report noted average rainfall between 8 am and 6 pm on Sunday at 23.81 mm in the island city, 25.01 mm in the eastern suburbs and 18.47 mm in the western suburbs.
After intense overnight showers on Saturday, rainfall briefly eased to light spells with occasional heavy bursts on Sunday morning, the IMD said earlier, with no major waterlogging reported at that time. Local trains on Central Railway ran slightly behind schedule in the morning, though authorities did not specify the cause, and BEST bus services remained on their regular routes without diversions.
The weekend’s downpours had pummelled Mumbai and adjoining suburbs, with some areas receiving more than 200 mm of rain in the early hours of Saturday, inundating low-lying zones and severely disrupting suburban rail services on both Central and Western lines. A landslide in Vikhroli Parksite on Saturday left two people dead and two injured, underscoring the risks posed by saturated hillsides and unstable slopes during sustained rainfall.
With all eyes on the evolving forecast, authorities said waterlogging-prone stretches would be closely monitored through the day, and quick-response teams remained on standby to clear fallen branches and restore snapped power lines. Commuters have been advised to check live updates from civic agencies and transport operators, allow extra travel time, and avoid flooded underpasses and low-lying roads.
The red alert for the wider Konkan and western Maharashtra belt signals the likelihood of extremely heavy rainfall in parts, and residents in vulnerable areas have been urged to stay indoors, stock essentials, and follow instructions from local disaster control rooms as the weather system continues to pass over the region.
