Mumbai Schools, Colleges Shut as IMD Orange Alert Stays

Mumbai schools and colleges will stay closed Tuesday after the India Meteorological Department kept an orange alert for heavy rain and gusty winds over the city. The warning came after a day of relentless downpour that flooded roads, uprooted trees, and triggered wall and billboard collapses across the metropolis.

The orange alert is the third level in the IMD's four-stage colour system, above yellow and below red. It signals conditions that can cause significant disruption, transport delays, and power outages, an official said.

Traffic on the Mumbai-bound carriageway of the Mumbai-Pune Expressway's Missing Link bypass section reopened Monday night after an 18-hour closure. A landslide near the exit of Tunnel 2 – the longest tunnel on the route through the Sahyadri mountains – shut the carriageway around 4 a.m. Monday. A senior official of the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation told PTI that traffic resumed at 10:10 p.m. after safety inspections.

Four people died in rain-related incidents in Pune district Monday. Three members of a family were killed in a landslide and wall collapse in Patan village in Maval tehsil. Two others were swept away in separate incidents. Authorities rescued or moved more than 500 people to safer locations.

Mumbaikars woke to overcast skies and strong winds Tuesday, with no immediate relief in the forecast.