The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Tuesday night refuted reports that it has ordered the closure of all educational institutions, including schools and colleges, in Mumbai for August 20 amid heavy rainfall in the city.
Fake post on closure of schools, colleges
In a late-night post on 'X' (formerly known as Twitter), the BMC shared a screenshot of a post which claimed it had ordered the closure of all government and private schools and colleges in Mumbai after the India Meteorological Department (IMD) issued a red alert for the city, predicting extremely heavy rainfall in the region on August 20.
However, the BMC refuted the report, calling it 'fake'. "This message is fake. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has not issued any such information through its official social media platforms," the BMC posted on Tuesday night.
Orange alert in Mumbai
Meanwhile, the weather department has issued an orange alert for August 20 in Mumbai, predicting heavy rains in the city. It, however, said that the intensity of the rainfall will likely reduce from Thursday.
According to the IMD, Mumbai's Vikhroli received 223.5 mm of rainfall from 8.30 am on August 19 to 5.30 am on August 20. Santacruz received 206.6 mm of rainfall during the same period, followed by Byculla 184.0 mm, Juhu 148.5 mm, Bandra 132.5 mm and Colaba 100.2 mm.
BMC pumps 1,645.155 crore litres of rainwater
According to the BMC, it pumped out 1,645.155 crore litres of rainwater between August 16 and August 19 through six pumping stations across Mumbai. For all these four days, the six pumping stations were operational for a total of 761 hours and 38 minutes, it said.
"For comparison, this is more than double the storage capacity of Tulsi Lake, which holds 804.6 Crore litres of water," the BMC said in an 'X' post. "BMC has also deployed 540 dewatering pumps across various low-lying areas in Mumbai, to drain accumulated rainwater."
