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Heavy Rain, Flooding In Mumbai, Local Trains Stopped, Offices Shut

Mumbai Rain: Mumbai’s civic body has said that except for essential services, all other offices in the city will be closed today
Mumbai: Several areas in Mumbai have been flooded after extremely heavy rain in through the night and this morning. The local trains, a lifeline for Mumbai’s 20 million residents, have been stopped in the city and all offices in the city, except emergency services will stay closed today. The financial capital and a few neighbouring district are on red alert for "extremely heavy rainfall" today and tomorrow. Apart from Mumbai, the alert has been issued for Thane, Pune, Raigad and Ratnagiri districts of Maharashtra. "Stay home! We’ve been monitoring the situation and the @mybmc is working round the clock. Please cooperate and stay home," Maharashtra minister Aaditya Thackeray tweeted.

Here are the top 10 updates on Mumbai rain:

    Mumbai’s civic body has said that except for essential services, all other offices in the city will be closed today. "Owing to the heavy rainfall since last night and forecasts of extremely heavy rain by @IndiaMetDep all offices and establishments in Mumbai, except emergency services, will remain shut," the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) tweeted.

    Local train services have been suspended on some routes in Mumbai and suburbs due to flooding on rail tracks, officials said. "Due to high tide resulting in water-logging at Wadala and Parel, suburban services are suspended on main line and harbour line. However, shuttle services are running between Vashi and Panvel, and  Thane and Kalyan," Central Railway’s Chief Public Relation Officer Shivaji Sutar tweeted. "No suburban trains are held up in between stations," he added. The Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport (BEST) bus services have been diverted in several routes in various parts of Mumbai and the suburbs, the civic body said.

    26 places have reported flooding. Roads in areas such as Goregaon, King Circle, Hindmata, Dadar, Shivaji Chowk, Shell Colony, Kurla ST Depot, Bandra Talkies, Sion Road have been flooded. Heavy overnight rain caused a landslide on the Western Express Highway in suburban Kandivali early Tuesday morning, affecting the movement of vehicles from the western suburbs towards south Mumbai, officials said.

    With a high tide expected at 12:47 pm, the civic body has alerted to all concerned departments and also to people to not go near any beach or low-lying areas. Tides waves of around 4.51 meters have been predicted due to the heavy rain.

    Mumbai city received 230.06 mm rain from 8 am on Monday to 6 am today. The eastern and western suburbs recorded 162.83 and 162.28 mm of rain respectively.

    The Met office has also warned of strong winds off north Maharashtra coast today, tomorrow and on Thursday.

    Mumbai’s streets regularly flood during the monsoon, which runs from June until September or October, and which provides India with most of its annual rainfall.

    Almost every monsoon, Mumbai struggles to cope with the chaos caused by the rain. The suburban trains are affected and low-lying areas get flooded.

    Last year, the heaviest rain in a decade in Mumbai caused a number of deaths and triggered massive rail, road and air transport disruptions.

    Much of Mumbai’s mangrove cover, which is extremely effective in helping to drain water, has been destroyed over the past decade to make way for high-rises.