All government and semi-government offices in Mumbai will remain closed on Tuesday in view of the warning of extremely heavy rain released by the Meteorological Department. Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) gave this information.
BMC has appealed to all private establishments in Mumbai to allow their employees to work from home.
The BMC in a statement on Tuesday morning announced the closure of heavy rains in Mumbai and suburbs and the closure of all government and semi-government offices as a precaution in view of the ‘Red Alert’ issued by the India Meteorological Department (IMD).
The statement said that this decision will be applicable to all BMC offices and government establishments, except for essential services.
BMC said, “All government, semi-government and BMC offices (excluding essential services) will remain closed today in view of the ‘red alert’ of very heavy rains in Mumbai and suburbs.”
An official said that in the 24 hours ended on Tuesday morning, Mumbai, Eastern and Western suburbs recorded 186.43 mm, 208.78 mm and 238.19 mm average rainfall respectively.
The IMD had predicted “very heavy to extremely heavy” rainfall in Mumbai and its suburbs on Tuesday and sometimes there are expectations to blow strong winds at a speed of 45 to 55 kmph.
There is a possibility of traffic jam due to rain in the morning and late evening. At the same time, 3.75 meters high waves arose in the sea at nine o’clock in the morning and 3.14 meters high waves are expected to rise at 8.53 pm.
People complained of water logging on railway tracks in the low -lying areas of Dadar, Matunga, Parel and Sion.
Railway officials claimed that the water was below the track level, so the movement of trains was not affected. However, train services were delayed.
There are also reports of water logging in Hindmata, Andheri Subway and ‘Eastern Express Highway’, Mumbai-Gujarat Highway and parts of ‘Eastern Freeway’.
The situation worsened due to technical fault in the signaling system between Ambivali and Shahar stations on Mumbai suburban networks.
According to a spokesperson of the Central Railway, local trains were running 10 minutes on the main line of Central Railway around eight in the morning and five minutes late on the Harbor line. A spokesman for Western Railway said that poor visibility delayed suburban services.
