The India meteorological department's Mumbai centre has predicted heavy to very heavy rainfall in the city and suburbs in the next 24 hours, with a possibility of occasional gusty winds reaching 50-60 kmph, the official said.
The India Meteorological Department attributed the westerly wind and moisture incursion from the Arabian Sea as the reason behind the spell.
The state-run transport and electricity provider has also converted 70 AC mini buses into vans to deliver 2.5 lakh food packets, officials said.
Taking a cue from cities like New York and London, public transport authorities in Mumbai are planning to equip the city's iconic BEST buses with bluetooth-enabled services.
The first phase of the project, 8.8-km stretch between Wadala and Chembur, is expected to be thrown open to public in Aug.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld the power purchase agreement between Tata Power Company (TPC) and BEST, a public sector unit, for electricity allocation in Mumbai.
The city went under cloud cover and witnessed incessant rainfall from afternoon, with parts of the city witnessing heavy rains and thunderstorms, civic officials said.
BEST unions had struck work demanding, among other things, a pay-revision and an increase in dearness allowance.
A biker was killed after he was crushed under a double decker Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport Undertaking bus that overturned in Bandra's Kalanagar.
In its decision over a tariff revision proposal submitted by the BEST, the MERC has given this direction.
The India Meteorological Department's (IMD) regional centre for Mumbai has issued a 'yellow alert' for next three days, predicting heavy to very heavy rainfall at isolated places.
Heavy rains lashed Mumbai and its suburbs on Thursday, causing waterlogging on roads in some areas that led to traffic snarls and also delayed local train operations.
Mumbai's senior opening batsman Wasim Jaffer lost his father, who passed away at the LilavatiHospital in suburban Bandra on Friday, following a brief illness.
Major advertisers, including Hindustan Unilever, Paras Pharma, Pidilite Industries, Esselworld, Playwin Lotteries and Tata Sky have started relaying commercials in the BEST buses.
Power will become dearer to subscribers of Reliance Energy Ltd by 19 per cent on an average for the period between April 24, 2007, and March 31, 2008, after the new tariff order was released by the Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission.
Even as Mumbaikars got some respite from the downpour on Friday morning, the India meteorological department has issued a red alert for the city and its suburbs warning that very heavy to extremely heavy rainfall is likely at isolated places during the day, the civic officials said.
The buses will have a reduced floor height of 860mm, as against the normal 1050 mm, for easier boarding, with two-step entry. They also conform to BS III emission standards
A 10.5-kilometer-long stretch will be opened for traffic in the first phase, an official earlier said, adding that motorists can enter the coastal road from Worli Seaface, Haji Ali interchange and Amarson's interchange points, and exit at Marine Lines.
Over 42,000 BEST employees are participating in the strike called to demand revise pay scale.
Suburbs like Bandra, Santacruz and Chembur, and pockets in central Mumbai such as Dadar reported the outage for over 15 minutes starting at 2130 hrs.
However, some areas in south Mumbai, which witnessed a record rain on Wednesday, were still water-logged, they said. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted moderate to heavy rainfall in the city and suburbs and intense showers in some parts of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region in next 24 hours.
The Mumbai civic body and police have advised all people in the city and surrounding areas to stay indoors as much as possible.
Western Railway stated that local train services were running normally on Monday morning, however, commuters claimed trains were running late by 5 to 10 minutes.
The road transport service ferries nearly 45 lakh passengers a day.
Almost all of the 3,400 buses have been off Mumbai roads.
A gunman, hailing from Bihar, who had come to the city to pass on a message to Maharashtra Navnirman Sena president Raj Thackeray, was gunned down by police in an exchange of fire after he kept a conductor of Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) bus hostage near Bailbazaar area in the eastern suburb of Kurla.
The commercial capital of India, which enjoys 24x7 power unlike any other cities of the country, is likely to suffer power cuts this summer owing to a dispute between the power distribution utilities Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport and Reliance Energy Ltd over who should foot the bill for 300 Mw of power which is required to be bought to keep Mumbai free from power cuts.
A little before midnight on Wednesday, Santosh Chakne, a bus driver with the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport Service, was told he was on special duty. He had to take his bus to Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji Airport (domestic) to pick up Army commandos and take them to the Taj Mahal hotel in south Mumbai.It was only when he was waiting outside the airport that a phone call alerted him to the terrorist attack on the Taj Mahal hotel and at other places in Mumbai.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Friday predicted 'moderate to heavy rainfall' for Mumbai city and its suburbs and the possibility of 'very heavy to extremely heavy' showers at isolated places in the next 24 hours.
The weather department has predicted occasional intense rain spells in the city in the next 24 hours.
A senior railway official noted that waterlogging at the new location between Bhandup and Nahur led to the suspension of local services on the Main Line from 5:15 am.
Waterlogging was reported in Andheri, Kurla, Ghatkopar, Chembur and some other places.
There was no report of any major water-logging anywhere in the city so far.
Autorickshaw drivers had threatened to go on a strike in support of their demands, which included a hike in fares.
Some low-lying areas like the Andheri subway were submerged, forcing authorities to divert the traffic through alternate routes, civic officials said.
Mumbai's iconic red double-decker buses, which have been an integral part of the city's public transport system for more than eight decades, will go off the streets this week, an official from the Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport (BEST) Undertaking said on Tuesday.
The number of buses available for service could go down below 3,000 now.
The monsoon spelt mayhem in several parts of the country on Monday, particularly Mumbai where local train services and flight operations were hit and everyday life disrupted as well as Assam that was grappling with floods yet again.
The weather bureau has issued a red alert for neighbouring Raigad and Palghar districts predicting heavy to very rainfall at a few places and extremely heavy rain at isolated places for Wednesday. An orange alert is sounded for Thane district.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances