Heavy rains batter Mumbai, schools shut

Mumbai : Heavy rains pounded Mumbai and other parts of Maharashtra on Wednesday, causing flooding in low-lying areas and cancellation of several local trains, delayed flights and slow road traffic movement.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted intense showers in Mumbai and its neighbouring areas in next 24 hours and issued a 'red alert', asking the authorities to be prepared to handle any situation. The state government has asked the officials concerned to monitor the inflow of water in dams in western Maharashtra, where some districts were ravaged by floods last month.

The Mumbai civic body asked all schools to remain shut and to ensure that the students were sent back home safely. Over 100 villages in Gadchiroli and Gondia in Vidarbha region and several others in Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg of Konkan region were cut off from other parts of the respective districts due to water-logging on roads, officials said.

Landslides were also reported in some Western Ghats areas of Raigad and Sindhudurg districts. After a brief lull last week, the south-west monsoon again got activated, leading to heavy downpour in Mumbai and several other parts of the state on Wednesday.