Mumbai rains: Govt offices closed, work from home appeal to private firms

All government and semi-government offices in Mumbai will remain closed on Tuesday, 19 August, following a red alert issued by the India Meteorological Department (IMD) for extremely heavy rainfall, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) announced. Essential services will remain functional.

The civic body also urged private establishments to allow employees to work from home and advised citizens to avoid non-essential travel.

Rainfall and forecast

In the 24 hours ending 8 am Tuesday, the city recorded heavy showers — 186.43 mm in the island city, 208.78 mm in the eastern suburbs, and 238.19 mm in the western suburbs, officials said.

The IMD warned of “very heavy to extremely heavy” rainfall with gusty winds of 45–55 kmph through the day. Rain coinciding with a 3.75-metre high tide at 9:16 am and another tide of 3.14 metres at 8:53 pm raised fears of severe waterlogging.

Waterlogging and traffic disruptions

Waterlogging was reported in several low-lying areas including Dadar, Matunga, Parel, Sion, Hindmata, Andheri Subway, parts of the Eastern Express Highway, Mumbai-Gujarat Highway, and the Eastern Freeway.

Though the Central Railway said water levels remained below track height, train services were delayed — 10 minutes on the main line and 5 minutes on the harbour line around 8 am. Western Railway suburban services also ran behind schedule due to poor visibility.

To compound the situation, a technical snag in the signalling system between Ambivali and Shahad stations caused further disruption on the Central line in the morning.

With PTI inputs