Maharashtra rain: Thane, Palghar schools closed today; Mumbai showers to continue

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued a ‘yellow’ alert for Mumbai, predicting heavy rainfall at isolated places on Friday.

In Maharashtra’s Palghar and Thane, a holiday has been for all the primary, secondary and higher secondary schools on Friday in view of the heavy rainfall alert. The IMD has issued a ‘red’ alert for Mumbai till 8:30am on Friday.

Very heavy is very likely over Mumbai city and adjoining areas, the IMD said in its bulletin.

Modak Sagar lake, one of the seven lakes that supply water to Mumbaikars, started overflowing on Thursday at 10:52pm. This was the fourth fresh water supplying lake to overflow after Tulsi lake, Vehar lake and Tansa lake.
As a result of incessant rainfall in the catchment area, the Tansa dam started overflowing and 15 of its gates were opened, from where 1,65,000 cusecs of water was being discharged, officials said. In neighbouring Palghar district, 8,400 cusecs water was being released from Dhamani dam and 21,100 cusecs from the Kawadas dam.

Thane and Palghar administrations declared a holiday for schools, junior colleges for Friday amid the prediction of heavy rain in the region.

Heavy rain lashed parts of Thane district in Maharashtra on Thursday, where many families were shifted to safety from several residential areas mainly due to water-logging, which also affected the movement of traffic on two major highways. A 32-year-old man was swept away in a swollen nullah near a creek in Kalwa town of Thane district while he was fishing amid intense showers.

Due to incessant rain, many low-lying areas in Bhiwandi and Mira Bhayandar in Thane district, while Vasai and Virar in Palghar district were inundated, officials told news agency PTI.

In Mumbai too, heavy rain on Thursday resulted in waterlogging in several areas, traffic jams on most arterial roads and delay in suburban train services of both Western and Central Railways.

Civic officials said water-logging was witnessed in Matunga, DN Nagar, Byculla, Trombay, Azad Maidan, Kandivali, Kalbadevi, Oshiwara, Dahisar, Magathane at 3:30pm, with water being almost half-feet in most of these areas.

Western Railway suburban train services ran with a delay of 10-15 minutes through the day due to the rains, with a major cause being waterlogging at Marine Lines and Borivali stations in the south and north of the network, respectively.