Mumbai woke up to another rain-soaked morning on Tuesday, as relentless showers have forced the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to shut schools and colleges and advise offices to remain closed.
It has also urged private firms to let employees work from home as the India Meteorological Department (IMD) maintained its 48-hour red alert for the city and its suburbs, issued on Monday.
Mumbai, Palghar, Thane, Raigad and Ratnagiri—as well as the ghat regions of Nasik, Pune, and Satara—are among the districts maintaining a red alert for today, as per the IMD.
Although schools in areas like Mumbai, Thane, Dombivli, and Palghar have been ordered to remain shut as a precautionary measure, many parents complained that the decision came late, leaving children stuck on their way to class yesterday.
The BMC also told government and semi-government offices to remain closed, with only essential services operating.
Many private companies also received a BMC advisory on working from home due to the rain and the major disruption of public transport.
Waterlogging has severely affected various parts of the city, with key junctions in Dadar, Chembur, Kurla and Andheri submerged, bringing traffic to a halt.
The Andheri subway has now been closed for over 6 hours, while train services have also been disrupted on the Western lines, in addition to disruptions at the Central and Harbour rail lines. This left a number of commuters stranded at various stations across the city, as per an ABP Majha report.
The intensity of rainfall—caused due to a low-pressure area in the Bay of Bengal moving towards Gujarat—is expected to decrease over the coming days as it moves on, away from Maharashtra, the IMD said.