With heavy rain battering Mumbai city and adjoining districts from Tuesday night and continuously on Wednesday, the Colaba weather observatory has recorded 229.6 mm rain in about nine hours (from 8.30 am to 5.30 pm)—the season's heaviest rainfall for south Mumbai.
The Mumbai Police has requested people to stay indoors and not to venture out in the stormy weather which is also likely to continue on Thursday, according to the weather forecast. "We request Mumbaikars to stay indoors and not venture out unless it is extremely essential. Practice all necessary precautions and do not venture out near the shore or waterlogged areas," the Mumbai Police said in a statement.
Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray also appealed to the people to stay indoors and venture out only for essential work. The chief minister asked civic agency– the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to coordinate with the police and railway authorities, health machinery and the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) to ensure that people do not face any problems due to the inclement weather.
State minister for Tourism and Environment Aditya Thackeray took to Twitter and echoed the CM's thoughts. "While we've asked all to stay home, the police and urban/ rural local bodies staff are on the streets and are braving the stormy rains. Please stay home and stay put wherever indoors you are across the entire belt receiving rains," the Thackeray scion tweeted.
The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) officials have been directed to ensure that there is no mishap at the ongoing work at Metro Rail sites, a statement from the chief minister's office said.
Heavy rains lashed parts of Mumbai and neighbouring Thane and Palghar districts on Wednesday, affecting some local train and bus services due to water-logging on rail tracks and arterial roads.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has already put the city and its suburbs on red alert and issued a warning to people to stay indoors amid forecasts of high tide. Normal life was disrupted across Mumbai and a few districts as heavy rain continued to batter the city.
The red alert was issued for Mumbai, Thane, Palghar, Raigad, Pune, Ahmednagar and Nashik districts of Maharashtra. The weather agency's warning for Mumbai is just for Wednesday but that for Thane, Palghar and Nashik is for both Wednesday and Thursday.
