Five dead amid heavy rains, landslide in Maharashtra

Mumbai: At least five persons were killed and three others were injured as heavy rains lashed Mumbai and elsewhere in Maharashtra coinciding with the Krishna Janmashtami and Dahi Handi festivities on Saturday.

The Regional Meteorological Centre of IMD has forecast heavy to very heavy rainfall for the weekend and placed Mumbai under ‘red alert’ - as the city headed for a wet weekend.

The BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation has asked Mumbaikars to avoid stepping out of there houses if not required.

The RMC in its forecast, said: “Widespread rainfall activity with heavy to very heavy rainfall at a few places with Isolated extremely heavy rainfall is very likely over Konkan and adjoining ghat areas of Madhya Maharashtra during the period August 15-21, 2025. Scattered to fairly widespread rainfall activity with heavy rainfall at isolated places is very likely over Marathwada region during the above period. Possibility of lightning and thunder accompanied by occasional gusty winds reaching 30-40 kmph is also very likely.”

Water-logging was reported in several areas of the Mumbai metropolitan region (MMR) comprising twin districts of Mumbai City and Mumbai Suburban and neighbouring districts of Palghar, Thane and Raigad.

In MMR, NDRF and SDRF teams have been kept in readiness.

BMC’s Administrator and Municipal Commissioner Bhushan Gagrani visited the Disaster Control Unit and reviewed the emerging situation.

According to BMC, Mumbai received over 100 mm rainfall from 0800 hrs of Friday till 0800 hrs of Saturday.

While Mumbai City received 99.61 mm rainfall, the Eastern Suburbs and Western Suburbs received 142.80 mm and 144.57 mm rainfall, respectively.

The Andheri East area received maximum rainfall with Marol Fire Brigade recording 207 mm rainfall.

The Narialwadi area of Santacruz recorded 202 mm rainfall while Tagore Nagar in Vikhroli recorded 196 mm rainfall.

In some places in Mumbai, in the last 36 hours, more than 300 mm rainfall was reported.

In Mumbai, a landslide was reported from the Jankalyan Society at Varsha Nagar in Vikhroli Park Site. While Suresh Mishra (50) and his daughter Shalu Mishra (19) died in the incident, his wife Aarti Mishra (45) and son Rutraj Mishra (20) are admitted to the trauma ward of the Rajawadi Hospital. The hut, built on collector-owned land in a landslide-prone locality, was buried under debris.

Besides, two deaths were reported in Nanded and one in Yavatmal.

While Mumbai and Raigad have been placed under ‘red alert’, Thane has been put on ‘orange alert’ and Palghar stays on ‘yellow alert’.

Private airliners - SpiceJet and IndiGo have issued advisories about possible delays in arrivals/departures from the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport.

“Due to bad weather (heavy rain) in Mumbai (BOM), all departures/arrivals and their consequential flights may get affected. Passengers are requested to keep a check on their flight status,” SpiceJet said.

“The rain’s made an entrance, and so have a few roadblocks around Mumbai. If you’re travelling today, give yourself a bit of a buffer on the roads. Please check your flight status via our website or app before leaving home. Our teams are closely monitoring the situation to ease any delays and support you at every step,” IndiGo said.

The road traffic was badly affected because of water-logging at chronic spots.

The suburban train services of Central Railway and Western Railway were running, however, water has gushed into the tracks in some places.