Online Desk: Torrential rain drenched India’s Mumbai and its suburbs in the past 24 hours, with some places suffering exceptionally heavy rainfall, officials reported today.

The city has been receiving continuous rain throughout the morning, but there had been no reports of serious flooding in low-lying regions, they added, reports NDTV.  “Heavy to very heavy rain” was predicted in Mumbai, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

After the IMD issued a “red alert” for Mumbai, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) declared a holiday for all government and private schools today. “The BMC requests all citizens to stay alert, remain indoors and kindly follow instructions from the administration,” said Iqbal Singh Chahal, Mumbai civic commissioner and administrator, last night.

According to the IMD Mumbai, the Colaba observatory (representing the island city) recorded “extremely heavy” rainfall of 223.2 mm, while the Santacruz observatory (representing the suburbs) recorded 145.1 mm rainfall in the 24-hour period ending at 8:30 am this morning.

In the past 24 hours, the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus experienced 153.5 mm of rain, the Ram Mandir area received 161 mm, Byculla received 119 mm, Sion received 112 mm, and Bandra received 106 mm, according to IMD authorities.