Live: Landslides Snap Mumbai-Pune Rail Link; Deaths, Closures Mount as Maharashtra Reels Under Heavy Rain

Police stated on Monday that heavy downpours, flooding, and a landslide have led to the complete suspension of traffic on both the Pune-Mumbai Expressway and the old Pune-Mumbai highway. Authorities have appealed to the public to hold off on travelling between Pune and Mumbai until further notice, citing prevailing safety risks. Police added that Maval and Tamhini Ghat regions have developed severe flood-like conditions, rendering even the alternate routes between the two cities impassable.

Following a weather alert issued by the India Meteorological Department (IMD) for Mumbai, Mumbai University has taken a precautionary step and deferred all examinations that were due on July 6. The university said fresh exam dates will be disclosed in due course. This development comes against the backdrop of continuous heavy rain that has inundated several neighbourhoods across the city in recent days. The university underlined that ensuring the well-being of students was the driving factor behind the postponement.

The Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) announced through a post on X that vehicular movement has been suspended in both directions — Pune to Mumbai and Mumbai to Pune — with immediate effect until further orders are issued. The corporation has requested citizens not to make any trip between the two cities until fresh official directions come through. Those who had already planned to travel are urged to defer their departure and stay updated with traffic alerts and advisories released by government agencies.

Mumbai was battered by relentless downpours on Sunday, and two more people lost their lives in separate tree-collapse incidents — an 18-year-old motorcyclist and an elderly resident — taking the total number of such fatalities in the city to three in under a week since June 30. Civic officials said a tree came down on a shop near the Hindi BMC School at Naupada in Kurla West at around 12.40 pm. The victim, Yunus Kundawala, was pulled out of the rubble and taken to Fauzia Hospital, where doctors declared him dead on arrival. Mayor Ritu Tawde reached the spot and announced an immediate financial grant of Rs. 5 lakh for the bereaved family. In a separate tragedy, an 18-year-old youth died after a falling tree branch struck him while he rode a motorcycle in Aarey Colony, Goregaon East. — PTI

With heavy rainfall continuing to pound the region without any let-up, authorities declared a holiday on Monday for all schools and colleges — government, private and civic-run — across Mumbai, Pune, Thane and Palghar, officials confirmed. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said in a statement issued on Sunday evening that the closure in Mumbai was decided with student safety as the foremost consideration, even as the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has placed the city under an 'orange alert'. Strong gusty winds have also been forecast alongside the heavy rain. The BMC clarified that government and private offices will operate as normal, while urging residents to venture out only when absolutely necessary. — PTI

Six people — five of them children — were killed on Sunday night (July 5, 2026) when part of a chawl gave way in Mumbai's Mankhurd neighbourhood amid heavy rainfall, officials confirmed. The BMC said two to three tenements of a three-storey building at Janata Nagar chawl came crashing down at around 8.30 pm on Sunday (July 5, 2026). For further coverage, read: Tragic Mumbai chawl collapse claims six lives, including five children, amid heavy rains; rescue operations are ongoing.

In the early hours of Monday, intense rainfall triggered landslides across the Bhor Ghat stretch between Karjat and Lonavala, bringing all train operations on the Mumbai-Pune corridor to a standstill, railway officials told PTI. Swapnil Nila, Central Railway's Chief Public Relations Officer, told PTI that one landslide struck near Thakurwadi in the ghat section, while a second slide came down on the centre track between Khandala and Monkey Hill at roughly 3.05 am. With all three railway lines knocked out of service by the slides, Central Railway was left with no option but to cancel, reroute and regulate a number of long-distance trains, Nila said. — PTI