IMD reduces Mumbai's red alert to orange

The red alert in Mumbai has been reduced to orange.Heavy rains are expected in the city, the BMC tweeted.The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation said it is closely monitoring the situation in Mumbai to ensure everyone's safety. The India Meteorological Department's (IMD) Mumbai centre has predicted "heavy to very heavy rain" in the city today.The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) declared a holiday for all government and private schools and colleges here on Thursday after the IMD issued a 'red' alert for the metropolis.

The BMC requests all citizens to stay alert, remain indoors and kindly follow instructions from the administration," Mumbai civic commissioner and administrator Iqbal Singh Chahal said last night.The Colaba observatory (representative of the island city) recorded "extremely heavy" rainfall at 223.2 mm, while the Santacruz observatory (representative of suburbs) recorded 145.1 mm rainfall in the 24-hour period ending at 8.30 am on Thursday, according to the IMD Mumbai.