Mumbai rains: Sea Face joins list of flooded areas

Around 70 mm of rain within an hour flooded Worli Sea Face road on Sunday night, adding it as a new flood spot in the city along with Marine Lines from last year. Citizens blame the Coastal Road for the unusual flooding.

Even regular flood-prone areas like King's Circle, Hindmata, Lalbaug, Worli, Parel, Sewri, Ghatkopar, and the Andheri subway experienced flooding after just half an hour of heavy rain, raising questions about the BMC's desilting efforts. Additionally, Sakinaka, Mulund, Bhandup, Vidyavihar, Dahisar, Andheri, Bandra West, Vile Parle, and Malad also witnessed flash flooding for an hour. There were also 57 complaints of fallen trees across the city. Last year, Marine Lines road was flooded after pebbles blocked the drain at Patan Jain outfall. Siddharth Kothari from his x handle shared a video of Worli Seaface and stated, "First rain of Mumbai. Severe water-logging at Worli Sea Face."

Flooding causes garbage to float (left) An autorickshaw wades through a flooded street in Ghatkopar

Many took to social media to comment on BMC's preparedness for the monsoon. Another user, Suchit, posted, "Once again a historic reminder the great Mumbai historic boating festival will open shortly. Enjoy free boating in Kurla, Milan subway, LBS Marg, Sion, Hindmata, etc. Hurry! Offer valid till waterlogging lasts. Issued by BMC in interest of public. (SIC)"

A BMC official stated that a high tide of 3.74 metres at 2 am caused flooding in some parts of the city. After immediate action, the water dispersed eventually. But as per the data, the rain intensity was high between 9 pm to 11.30 pm and there wasn't high tide during that period. Abhijeet Bangar, BMC, Additional Commissioner said, "We instructed the cleaning of drains within a 50-metre radius of flooding spots. Despite this, a few areas were still flooded on Sunday night. On Monday morning, we began cleaning the drains around these spots."

Fallen trees

The BMC received 57 complaints of fallen trees and big branches across the city. 17 were from South Mumbai, seven from eastern suburbs, and 27 from western suburbs. There were 24 incidents of short circuits and six incidents of house/wall collapses.

Subway flooded
Andheri subway was closed for traffic after water level rose above two feet. "The subway was flooded for two hours resulting in floating garbage and debris," said Dhaval Shah, Lokhandwala Oshiwara Citizen's Association.