Lucknow, Sep 26 (IANS) All schools up to Class XII in Lucknow will remain closed on Friday due to heavy and incessant rains that have been lashing the state capital since the past three days.

District Magistrate Kaushal Raj Sharma issued an order that all schools will remain closed on Friday.

Heavy water-logging has been witnessed in the state capital since Wednesday, making it difficult for the children to commute to schools.

Power supply has been disrupted while telecom services have also been adversely affected due to the heavy rains.

Meanwhile, the meteorological department has issued an alert for heavy to very heavy rainfall in 16 districts of central Uttar Pradesh, including Lucknow, in the next 48 hours.

The districts where heavy to very heavy rainfall is likely include Lucknow, Etawah, Kannauj, Lakhimpur, Sitapur, Amethi, Sultanpur, Barabanki, Gonda, Bahraich, Shravasti, Sant Kabir Nagar, Ayodhya, Siddhartha Nagar, Basti and Ambedkar Nagar.

--IANS amita/rs/arm