Mumbai, July 7 -- Heavy rains, high velocity winds and landslides paralysed Mumbai, Konkan and large parts of western Maharashtra for a second day in a row on Monday. At least 16 people lost their lives in rain-related incidents in the region in the last 48 hours. The four highways linking Mumbai to the mainland were disrupted to varying degrees. A landslide on the newly-built connector to the Mumbai-Pune Expressway forced its closure for several hours on Monday, leaving a trail of stranded motorists and truckers. Multiple landslides in Raigad and Ratnagiri shut down the Mumbai-Goa highway (NH 66) for over 30 hours, while traffic on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway (NH 48) was severely disrupted for several hours after nearly three feet of water accumulated on the road near Palghar. Water-logging and a severely potholed section around Bhiwandi affected traffic on the Mumbai-Nashik highway (NH 160), impacting vehicular movement. In Mumbai, which received an entire month's quota of July rain in the last four days according to the Indian Meteorological Department, schools and colleges were shut down, and private offices extended work-from-home facilities to their employees. All Mumbai beaches and promenades were closed to the public during Monday's high-tide. Schools and colleges will remain closed in Mumbai, Thane, Navi Mumbai and Palghar on Tuesday as well. According to the State Emergency Operations Centre (SEOC), Maharashtra witnessed extremely heavy rainfall across the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, Konkan and adjoining ghat areas since Saturday midnight. Lonavala recorded the highest rainfall at 670 mm, followed by Tamhini (580 mm), Shirgaon (540 mm), Ambona (537 mm) and Khopoli (516 mm). In Mumbai, the Santacruz observatory has received 8.5.6 mm of rain since July 1--around 94 per cent of average July rainfall--while Colaba recorded 744.2 mm of rain. As heavy rainfall disrupted life in Mumbai and other parts of the state, Chief Minister Fadnavis visited the State Disaster Management Control Room and asked the state and district administrations to be on alert for the next 48 hours amid predictions of heavy rain and gusty winds in Nashik and some parts of Mumbai. When asked about the economic cost of the disruption on the highways, corporate economist Madan Sabnavis said that, at this stage, it is hard to put a number on it. "The roads that are damaged will have to be redone. The actual cost of the damage will be known only when we know what the extent of this damage to roads is. It's difficult to say what the monetary cost of this will be." Major roads connecting Mumbai to the rest of Maharashtra and its neighbouring states thrown off gear, Sabnavis said, was a serious issue. "This will hold up all the goods coming into the city. This will also incur additional transport costs on account of delays," he said....