Mumbai Rains: Why floodwater receded slowly

A woman struggles to open her umbrella near the railway station road at Bhandup East, on Monday. Pic/Sameer Markande

Several areas, which were inundated after hours of intense rainfall on Saturday night, did not see the water recede until Sunday evening. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said the high tide throughout the afternoon prevented floodwater from draining into the sea.

This had happened last year as well, said residents. After heavy rainfall on Saturday night, most of the low-lying areas in the city got flooded - the usual spots like all the subways, Hindmata, King's Circle, Sion, Kurla and Mankhurd.

The residents of low-lying areas are used to flooding every monsoon, but since last year, floodwater has been receding very slowly. "We face waterlogging almost every year after a heavy downpour and water would recede soon after the rain stopped. But since last year, water does not recede even four to five hours after the rainfall has stopped. This time, water entered our houses around 3.30 am on Sunday and didn't recede even by 10 am. The water level did not increase much, but we were stuck in the mucky floodwater for hours," said Pradnya Dongaonkar, a resident of Dadar East.

Waterlogging at LBS Road, near Nirmal Lifestyle, Mulund West, on Monday. Pic/Sameer Markande

The situation is the same almost everywhere, and at some places, water receded by late evening. "We have water pumps in our area. But if rivers and nullahs were flooded, where would the water drain out?" asked a resident of Kurla.

BJP MLA Ashish Shelar said, "Even when there was a low tide, floodwater at Kurla and Sion did not recede. Water entered our houses. Mithi river was flowing above the danger mark despite no rainfall. I haven't seen such a thing in the past 25 years of my life. This is a serious concern. Such incidents should be studied."

"There were high tides throughout Sunday afternoon, so water was draining into the sea slowly. Water had cleared only after 7 pm," said P Velrasu, additional commissioner of the BMC. A total of 442.35 crore litres of rainwater has been pumped by six pumping stations from 11 pm on Saturday to 9 am on Sunday."

Also read: Mumbai: Waterlogging, landslide hit Central Railway, Western Railway

07
Approx time by which floodwater had cleared on Sunday evening

442 CR LT
Amount of rainwater pumped out from waterlogged areas