Incessant rain a day after the civic body’s tall claims of cleaning Mumbai’s choked nullahs leaves it shamed, and the city stumped again
People cross a waterlogged road in Parel on Wednesday
A few hours’ heavy rain on Wednesday, inconvenienced thousands and once again washed away the civic body’s tall claims about monsoon preparedness. Many who had resumed work after the partial lifting of curbs, those engaged in essential services or night shifts, and those travelling due to an emergency could not reach their destinations. As per the India Meteorological Department (IMD), from 8.30 am to 5.30 pm, Santacruz received 220.6 mm and Colaba received 45.6 mm rainfall.
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People walk in rain at Dadar East. Pics/Bipin Kokate
The IMD had issued a warning for heavy rain on Thursday and Friday and the corporation had had a meeting for preparedness on Tuesday.
A civic official said that there was a high tide of 4.16 metres at 11.43 am because of which the water receded slowly. Many areas like Hindmata, Sion, King’s circle, Kalachowki, Dadar TT circle, BPT colony, Mankhurd railway station, Chunabhatti, Kurla, Andheri subway, Air India colony, National college, Bandra, Kalanagar, Khar, Malad and Milan subways were waterlogged. Municipal Commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal said, “If more than 60 mm rainfall occurs in an hour, it takes a few hours for the water to drain. However, the water is draining much faster in the entire metropolis than before.”
Mayor Kishori Pednekar said, “It is common for the water to accumulate in low-lying areas. With the pumping stations, it is draining faster, in just three to four hours.” She added that additional measures are being taken through site visits to understand the causes of flooding. Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray visited the Disaster Control Room at BMC headquarters to review the situation.
BJP MLA Ashish Shelar said that the BMC’s claim of 104 per cent nullah cleaning has been exposed by the first rain. “The BMC spends more than R150 crore on nullah cleaning and yet many nullahs are choked up,” he said.
Day’s rainfall
The locations with the highest rainfall were: Chembur Fire Station area (297 mm), Vikhroli Fire Station area (274 mm), M West ward (269 mm), H East ward (262 mm), Ravali Camp (259 mm), M East ward (258 mm), Dharavi Fire Station area (256 mm), Santacruz workshop (249 mm), Vile Parle (240 mm).
Most of the rainfall occurred within four to five hours between 8 am and 3 pm. The high tide prevented nullahs and rivers from emptying the water into the sea, civic officials said. The BMC deployed 197 and 189 pumps to flush out water from 1 pm-2 pm and 2 pm-3 pm. From 10 am to 11 am, 150 pumps were functioning. The six stormwater pumping stations were operating continuously to discharge water into the sea. However, the capacity of the drains is to flush out only 25-30 mm rainwater per hour.
The city saw 32 trees/major branches falling from 8 am to 6 pm, 14 incidents of short circuits and six incidents of house/part of house collapsing.
Mayor, BMC boss at Hindmata
Hindmata, which has seen various projects worth crores to make it flood-free was inundated again on Wednesday. During a visit to the spot, along with Chahal, Pednekar said, “Only 100 metres of work is left to connect the drainage canal at Hindmata to Britannia Pumping Station and will be completed soon. It will help drain water faster.” Chahal spoke of a project to store rainwater in underground tanks at St. Xavier’s Ground and Pramod Mahajan Park. “Permission has been obtained on May 31 to create underground channels to connect tanks through the Tata Mill area. This will bring relief for Hindmata area,” he said.
Chahal also claimed that despite heavy rain, road traffic was not disrupted. “Ramps connecting two flyovers have brought relief. This is the first time in 15 years that traffic in Hindmata has not been closed due to rainwater. Traffic on Eastern Expressway, too, is smooth,” he said.
In the Western suburbs, Andheri, Amboli, Jogeshwari, Oshiwara, Goregaon saw waterlogging and resultant traffic jams. Traffic was slow-moving on the Western Express Highway from Oberoi mall to Kandivali flyover in the morning peak hours.
Rains wash away biz: Traders
After Covid-19 related curbs, traders said that rains created problems for businesses. Shops in Hindmata and Vashi’s APMC market were the worst hit.
Dinesh Trivedi, who has a cloth business in Hindmata, said, “Now that restrictions are lifted, waterlogging is haunting us. Last year too, it caused heavy losses. We keep dreaming that this year we won’t face problems but BMC keeps letting us down. The BMC has dug up roads to make underground tanks. But water collected into those areas. No barricades have been placed for safety.” In APMC market, Bhimji Bhanushali, secretary of Ghee, Grains, Rice and Oilseeds Merchants’ Association (GROMA), said, “When the APMC market shifted from Mumbai to Navi Mumbai 28 years ago, many promises were made. But on the very first day of rain, the market was waterlogged. We called the administration but did not get a response. In the end, we had to stop our work.”
Children play on a flooded SV Road in Bandra on Wednesday. Pic/Shadab Khan
Ketan Shah, a dry fruits merchant in Dombivli East, said, “The water had risen as high as 1.5 feet. Recently, boundaries were built at the Dombivli station but that increased waterlogging. The civic administration should look into this.”
- Inputs from Rohit Parikh
Voices
Vaibhav Harwade Thane resident
‘I left home early morning. It was raining but I never thought I will get stranded and it will be flooded everywhere. I am a small-time businessman and had gone to Matunga for work’
Vaishali Gurav works at Sanjeevni hospital, Malad
‘I reside in Titwala. I managed to reach Dadar from Malad after completing my night duty. But even after half an hour, a train did not come, so I returned to the hospital’
Ratnakar Sawant Engineer
‘It’s the first day of rain and once again it has been proved that the BMC’s claims of preparedness are an eyewash. Otherwise, there would have been no waterlogging’
Pravina Ghanekar on Covid-19 duty at Sanjeevni hospital, Malad
‘I didn’t think that local services would halt so early. So I decided to go home to Rabale after finishing my night shift. The hospital provides us with facilities to stay in such scenarios, so I returned there amid no train services’
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