IMD issues ‘red’ alert for Mumbai amid heavy rain; schools, colleges shut. Top Updates

Incessant rain lashed parts of Mumbai and its suburbs on Wednesday which prompted the India Meteorological Department (IMD) to upgrade the 'orange' alert to 'red' for the financial capital from Wednesday night till Thursday afternoon.

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Earlier in the afternoon, the weather agency issued an orange alert for the metropolis along with Thane, Raigad and Palghar districts predicting heavy to very heavy rainfall.

Mumbai received 101.35 mm of average rainfall between 8am and 10pm on Wednesday, while eastern suburbs and western suburbs recorded 87.54 mm and 102.55 mm of average rainfall, respectively, in the same period.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Wednesday declared a holiday for all government and private schools and colleges on July 27 owing to the heavy rainfall forecast for the metropolis.

Read here: ‘Red alert’ sounded in city; schools, colleges to remain shut

Iqbal Singh Chahal, municipal commissioner and administrator of the BMC, issued a statement about it on Wednesday night. "In view of the red alert issued for Mumbai, the BMC has declared a holiday for all municipal, government-run and private primary, secondary and higher secondary schools and all colleges in the city and suburbs on Thursday as the safety of students is a top priority," the statement said.

The University of Mumbai has also cancelled all examinations scheduled to be held on Thursday across the city. The new date will the announced later, the university said.

The heavy showers affected the road traffic in the city, however, all local train services were running at the normal pace, according to the latest update by the Western and Central Railways.

Amid the downpour, the Andheri subway, an underpass between Andheri and Jogeshwari railway stations, was closed for traffic a couple of times since Wednesday morning due to waterlogging.

Meanwhile, after the intense showers, the financial capital recorded its wettest July ever on Wednesday with the month so far witnessing a record 1557.8 mm rainfall, IMD has said.

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“From July 1 to July 26, 2023 morning 0830 hours (8.30 am), Santacruz (observatory) had recorded 1,433 mm. So today, this record for wettest July has been broken at 2030 (8.30 pm) on July 26, 2023, with the Santacruz observatory recording a total of 1557.8 mm so far,” the IMD said.

(With inputs from agencies)