Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Aug 18: Schools and colleges have been shut, several areas are waterlogged and massive traffic jams have been reported as the country’s economic capital Mumbai and its surrounding areas continued to be lashed by relentless heavy rainfall on Monday.
Mumbai and several other parts of Maharashtra remained waterlogged. The weather department, which had earlier issued an orange alert in Mumbai for Monday, upgraded its warning as the intensity of the rainfall grew. The red alert will remain in place in the city till Tuesday. A red alert is also in place in multiple districts and cities of Maharashtra, including Raigad, Ratnagiri, Satara, Kolhapur, and Pune.
The Mumbai Police have also issued an advisory for people, asking them to avoid non-essential travel amid heavy rain. In the wake of heavy showers in Mumbai, the BMC has ordered all schools and colleges to remain shut for the day. As rain caused severe waterlogging in multiple areas, the Andheri Subway has been closed to traffic.
Further, multiple airlines, including IndiGo, SpiceJet and Akasa Air, issued an advisory for passengers, asking them to reach the airport early to avoid last-minute hassles amid adverse weather conditions in Mumbai. Mumbai and its suburbs have been witnessing heavy rains since Saturday, with some parts recording more than 200 mm of rain in the wee hours, inundating low-lying areas. Rain-related incidents claimed two lives in Vikhroli on Saturday.
According to officials, the city has recorded over 54 mm of rainfall in the past 24 hours, while the eastern and western suburbs recorded 72 mm and 65 mm of rainfall. The downpour has halted traffic and led to waterlogging in several areas. Among the arterial roads affected are the Eastern Freeway and the Western Express Highway. Visuals shared on social media show hundreds of cars stranded in heavy rain on key roads in and around Mumbai. Waterlogging has been reported in Andheri, Lokhandwala, Kanjurmarg, Sion Gandhi market and Navi Mumbai.
The bad weather has also impacted air traffic. Many flights have been delayed, although airport authorities have not specified a number. Nine go-arounds — when a pilot chooses to abort a landing and try again– have been reported and at least one flight has been diverted. According to plane tracker Flightradar24, there is an average 54-minute delay in all flights out of Bombay.
Local trains, considered Mumbai’s lifeline, were running late by 15 to 20 minutes, according to several reports. BMC has shared updates on the diversion of BEST buses. Palghar, Sindhudurg, Aurangabad, Hingoli, Jalgaon, Jalna, Nanded, Parbhani districts of Maharashtra were kept on orange alert and the other districts were kept on yellow alert.
Elsewhere, the authorities in Karnataka issued a warning to farmers and fishermen in villages along the river Krishna and its tributaries following increase in water levels due to heavy rains in parts of Maharashtra and Karnataka on August 17-18.
The water level in the Yamuna River in Delhi is likely to cross the danger mark of 205.33 metres by Tuesday morning, an advisory issued by the Central Water Commission said. The Jammu and Kashmir government has also ordered the closure of all educational institutions in the Jammu region on Monday in view of the inclement weather, officials said. Sixty-eight persons lost their lives and 122 suffered injuries in three cloudbursts — in the Choshoti village of the Kishtwar district and Jodh Ghati and Janglote areas of the Kathua district — during the past four days.
The India Meteorological Department issued a warning for Haryana, predicting thunderstorms, lightning, and rain in several districts. According to the IMD, thunderstorms and lightning accompanied by moderate rain are very likely over Sampla, Rohtak, Kharkhoda, Sonipat, Ganaur, Samalkha, Bapouli, Gharaunda, Karnal, Indri, Gohana, Israna, Safidon, Panipat, Asandh, Nilokheri, and Radaur. In addition, light rain is expected in Firozpur Jhirka, Punahana, Hodal, Hathin, Nuh, Palwal, Taoru, Ballabgarh, Sohna, Gurugram, Charkhi Dadri, Bhiwani, Rewari, Pataudi, Kosli, Matanhale, Jhajjar, Bahadurgarh, Berikhas, Hansi, Hisar, Narnaund, Faridabad, Julana, Jind, Kaithal, Narwana, Kalayat, Barara, Jagadhri, Chhachhrauli, Pehowa and Shahabad.
Normal life was also hit in several parts of Odisha due to continued heavy downpour. All schools and Anganwadi Centres in Malkangiri and Nabarangpur districts have remained closed in view of the heavy rainfall. The district Collectors concerned have issued separate orders for this purpose. In Koraput district, landslides were reported in Kakirigumma area, because of which vehicular movement on the road connecting Kakirigumma and Talameting, and Narayanpatna and Talagumandi was disrupted. “Reports of uprooting of trees was also reported in Gajapati district due to continuous rain for last two days,” they said.
“Normal life was affected in southern Odisha as low-pressure induced rain lashed Malkangiri, Nabarangpur, Gajapati and Koraput districts,” officials said. Due to continuous downpour over the last two days, many low-lying areas in Malkangiri district have been inundated by floodwaters. “Water was flowing four feet above Pottaru, Kangurkonda, Kalimela Kanyashram bridges,” they said.
“Similarly, Malkangiri-Motu-Jeypore National Highway-326 remained out of bounds for vehicles as water was flowing above the road in some places,” they said, adding that owing to the submergence of the bridges, many vehicles including passenger buses were stranded. “The Chalanguda Bridge on Malkangiri-Sukma Road has also been submerged, cutting off communication with Chhattisgarh,” the officials said. “A portion of the boundary wall of the Malkangiri airport has collapsed due to heavy downpour,” they said.
Three workers were killed in a rain-related incident in Indore in Madhya Pradesh on Monday. “Three workers were killed and another person was injured when an under-construction wall collapsed amid heavy rains in Indore in Madhya Pradesh on August 18, 2025,” a police official said.
“The collapse of the 13-foot high cement wall buried Gautam Rathore (22), Rameshwar Pawar (48) and Titu Rathore (35) in the debris,” Rajendra Nagar police station in charge Neeraj Birathre said, adding the bodies have been sent for post-mortem. “The workers were constructing a 2 lakh litre capacity underground water tank at a private colony. One person was injured in the incident and has been hospitalised. The incident is being probed,” Mr Birathre said.
The Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis stated that Mumbai received 177 millimetres of rain in just six to eight hours on Monday and advised citizens to take precautions, as more showers were expected along with high tides. As per a statement issued by the Chief Minister’s office, seven people have died in rain-related incidents across the state in the last two days.
Around four to five people have gone missing after heavy rain battered Nanded district in Maharashtra, Maharashtra minister Girish Mahajan said on Monday. Mahajan said, “…Heavy rainfall has occurred in Nanded, and people are being evacuated from flooded areas. SDRF teams have also been called in, and the administration is working on it… 4-5 people are missing, but the search for them is ongoing… We are keeping an eye on the situation. Arrangements for food and water for the people have also been made.”
Out of the 7 lakes supplying water to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation area, 6 lakes have overflowed so far this monsoon. Due to the continuous heavy rains in the catchment area in the last few days, the water level of the reservoirs is increasing rapidly.
The total maximum water storage capacity of the 7 dams supplying water to Mumbai is about 1,44,736.3 crore litres (14,47,363 million litres). As of 6 a.m. today, a total of 131964.0 crore litres (131,964 million litres) of water is available in all 7 lakes. This water storage is 91.18% of the total water storage, i.e. 14 lakh 47 thousand 363 million litres.
