The IMD, Mumbai has predicted that a few spells of rain or showers are likely to occur in the city and its suburbs on Friday. Heavy rainfall is also expected to occur at one or two places.The Thane and Navi Mumbai municipal corporations have also been alerted of possible heavy rains within next 48 hours in their respective jurisdictions by the IMD. The Thane tehsildar’s office has instructed these corporations to depute rescue staff at problem points, especially along the foothills and low lying areas in areas around Parsik and Belapur hills, etc. The TMC has meanwhile started working on an action plan to meet any rain related crisis to surface in the city. A meeting was chaired by mayor Sanjay More and civic commissioner Sanjeev Jaiswal, attended by several corporators on Thursday, to streamline a plan to mitigate issues at perennial inundation spots in the city during the rains. Even as teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), Coast Guard and Navy search for missing victims and vehicles at the Savitri river, hundreds of locals and passing motorists gazed for hours from the riverside.”We saw the news of the bridge collapse on TV. Since we were passing by, we decided to stop by and watch the helicopters flying low over the river in their search operations,” said a Pune resident, who stood there for over two hours despite cops urging motorists not to stop and create a blockage.
