The direction was issued in the wake of a Met department forecast that thunderstorm accompanied by lightning is very likely to occur at isolated places in the state.
Heavy rains and floods have claimed at least 48 lives in Pune, Aurangabad and Konkan divisions in the last three days, while crops on lakhs of hectares have been damaged.
Reports suggest crops spread over 57,354 hectares have been damaged. 'I am going to ask the Union government to provide some compensation to farmers who have lost their livelihood,' says Relief Minister Vijay
Heavy rains lashed several parts of Maharashtra, including Pune, Solapur and Kolhapur. 'NDRF, district disaster management cell have been deployed to evacuate stranded people': Officials
Mumbai experienced heavy rains overnight along with thunderstorms and lightning, causing water-logging in some low-lying areas. There may be more today.
The BMC has appealed to Mumbai residents to stay at home and urged commercial establishments, except those providing essential services, to remain closed.
For the third time this monsoon, pounding rains paralaysed the country's commercial capital on Wednesday with total disruption in road and rail traffic, though flights were not hit severely.
Over 30 people have been killed in rain-related incidents in five districts of western Maharashtra in the last one week, including 17 who drowned when a boat capsized near Brahmanal village in Sangli on Thursday.
Torrential rains continued to lash most parts of Kerala on Friday with the toll in the last three days rising to 28 in monsoon-related incidents, including two massive landslides, and over 64,000 people being shifted to relief camps.
As per the last count, nearly 44,000 people have been evacuated from flood-hit and rain-affected areas of Karnataka, where the rain fury has left 12 people dead in the past few days.
The Nilgiris district and surrounding areas have been experiencing heavy rains under the influence of the south-west monsoon for the last four days leading to a shutdown of educational institutions.
Kerala State Disaster Management Authority (KDSMA) has evacuated 22,165 people from flood-affected regions and they have been lodged in 315 camps across the state.