Mumbai Schools and Offices Holiday, August 20, Today Amid Red Alert Warning

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) declared a holiday for all government and semi-government offices in Mumbai on Wednesday, August 20, and urged private offices to adopt a work-from-home policy. However, essential and emergency services were exempt from this requirement. The announcement was made as India Meteorological Department (IMD) issued a red nowcast warning for various districts of Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, predicting heavy rain and thunderstorms within the next few hours.

Mumbai, Thane, Palghar, Raigad, and Ratnagiri will most likely experience very heavy showers with gusty winds of up to 60 kmph, the IMD said. The agency warned of waterlogging, flooding, and traffic congestion in low-lying areas of Mumbai and asked people to stay indoors.

In Madhya Pradesh, the Sagar and Balaghat districts are also likely to experience heavy rainfall along with thunderstorms. In Maharashtra, six deaths have already been reported due to rains in the past 24 hours, and five people are still missing in Nanded district because of flooding.

To deal with deteriorating conditions, 18 companies of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and six State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) teams have been deployed in Maharashtra. The SDRF confirmed that 293 individuals were rescued from flood-affected Mukhed taluka in Nanded. The casualty reports are one death in Beed, one in Mumbai with three injured, and four dead with five missing individuals in Nanded.

In Pune, the authorities have been on red alert in the Ghat regions and orange alert around the city. District Collector Jitendra Dudi said that at present, the situation is under control, but cautious coordination is in place to deal with rain as well as dam water release. "We are taking care not to release water from dams during peak rainfall hours, as that will put flooding at greater risk.". No significant roadblocks or accidents have so far been reported," he added. 

Both Khadakwasla and Pawna dams are now more than 95% full, forcing officials to slowly raise water discharge to avoid a flood-like situation. Officials added that all the releases are being made in coordination with the Irrigation Department so that they don't reach a flood-like situation.

In the meantime, the IMD reaffirmed its prediction on social networking site X (previously Twitter), tweeting: "#Red #Nowcast #warning for heavy rain along with thunderstorm – #Maharashtra: Thane, Pune, Raigad; #MadhyaPradesh: Sagar, Balaghat; #Mumbai city. #Orange Nowcast Warning for Mumbai: Moderate spells of rain very likely."

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