Mumbai rains: Flooding hotspots hold up to scrutiny, 95,21,00,000!

King’s Circle on July 8 when the city witnessed the first heavy showers of the season. Pic/Shadab Khan

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has spent approximately Rs 270 crore to keep Gandhi Market, Hindmata and Milan subway flood-free. These spots were waterlogged on Monday, but residents feel the water receded faster than previous years. BMC officials said they pumped out 952.1 million litres of water from the three sites and the areas won't be flood-free during torrential rainfall but the projects definitely helped.

Hindmata

Milan subway between Vile Parle and Santacruz falls in a low-lying area and is always flooded even amid normal rainfall. The stormwater department of the BMC constructed an underground water storage tank under a park adjacent to the subway to provide relief from flooding. Sushil Pandey, a resident of Santacruz, said, "On Monday, the subway was waterlogged for a few hours but later on, the water receded when the rain stopped. By afternoon, it was open for traffic." Another resident, Shila Singh echoed the sentiment, saying, "On Tuesday, there wasn't any waterlogging but on Monday, the subway was waterlogged till noon.

Gandhi Market after Monday's heavy rain. Pics/BMC

Once the rain receded, the water was pumped out." She added, "Before thetank was built, the subway would be submerged for three to four days and that's why the flyover was built. In comparison to that, the subway is opened within a few hours. The BMC constructed tanks at two spots, one at Pramod Mahajan Kala Park in Dadar West and St Xavier's Ground in Parel. Dhanashree Shingaonkar, who stays near Hindmata, said, "Every year, water would accumulate at Hindmata early in the morning. I heard about it this time from the neighbours. But by the time the children went to school, the water had already receded. For the last two years, there hasn't been waterlogging like earlier days when after very moderate rain, the road got flooded."The BMC hasn't constructed holding tanks at Gandhi Market but a mini pumping station with five high-capacity pumps to disperse water into the Bharat Nagar culvert.

Hindmata, which tends to get flooded every monsoon, on July 7, 2023. Pic/Ashish Raje

"On Monday, the road was flooded early in the morning. Therain had stopped around 7 am and there was a low tide too. Still, it took until11 am to dewater the roads with all pumps. A truck and luxury bus halted in the middle of the road due to a technical snag and it exacerbated traffic congestion. On Tuesday there wasn't any waterlogging," said Nikhil Desai, a resident of Matunga. Abhijeet Bangar, additional municipal commissioner, told mid-day, "There wasn't any issue at Milan subway and the tank helped the reduce water level fast.

Motorists had a tough time at King's Circle on Monday evening. Pic/Shadab Khan

At Gandhi Market, there isn't any tank so everything depended on pumping capacity which fell short in such heavy rain of 250 to 300 mm in just five tosix hours. We can see whether a pumping capacity can be increased but it also depends upon the flow of the nullah. If it already overflows then even pumps won't help." Bangar added, "The capacity of Hindmata's tanks is 65,000 cubic metres of water every hour, that is approximately 45 mm of rainfall per hour. But if the rainfall exceeds this, water accumulates on the road. The rainfall on the intervening night of Sunday and Monday was about 55 mm per hour for almost five to six hours.

The Milan subway being constructed. Pic/File Photo

Milan subway

The BMC constructed a holding pond with a capacity of 2.5 crore litres. The pond is supposed to hold water accumulated in the subway during heavy rain when the drains overflow. After the rain subsides, this water is released into the drain. The pond wasn't ready in July 2022 and the subway was submerged on two occasions. But it was completed by the end of July and during August 2022 helped the subway run during heavy showers. The civic body, however, floated another tender of R16 crore for the remaining flood redressal work at Milan subway in October 2022. BMC officials then said that the earlier estimation was based on a rough calculation and they encountered a rock while digging a pit so the anchoring and piling work increased. Cost of the project: R50 crore. Water pumped out: 194.4 million litres.

Hindmata

The BMC constructed tanks at two spots, one at Pramod Mahajan Kala Park in Dadar West and St Xavier's Ground in Parel. In 2021, the corporationconstructed tanks of 3.62 crore litres and 1.05 crore litres at the respective locations. The extension of the tank at St Xavier's was completed before the 2022 monsoon. The combined capacity of the three tanks is 4.5 crore litres. The BMC installed an additional four pumps to the earlier capacity of nine pumps and additional drains on both sides of Dr Ambedkar Road to pump out water to St Xavier's tanks. Project cost: R195 crore Water pumped out: 559.7 million litres.

Gandhi Market

The BMC hasn't constructed holding tanks here, but a mini pumping station with five high-capacity pumps to disperse water into the Bharat Nagar culvert provides relief to the market area. The cross-section pipeline has been installed to shift water from the farthest lane of the opposite road at King's Circle. Project Cost: Rs 25 crore Water pumped out: 198 million litres.

2.5 crore Litres
Capacity of holding pond near Milan subway