Mumbai’s first rain of the season caused unexpected flooding in 59 flood-prone locations on Monday, May 26. These places had not seen waterlogging since the major floods of July 26, 2005.
Some of the affected places were Nehru Nagar, Ambedkar Nagar, Mantralaya, DN Road, Churchgate station, Metro Cinema, Crawford Market, and Pasta Lanes in Colaba. These areas are not known for flooding.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) defines a flood-prone area as a low-lying location that gets waterlogged often during moderate or heavy rains.
A ward, which includes Fort and Colaba, reported 22 new flood spots. B Ward, covering Dongri, saw 21 fresh reports. C Ward (Marine Lines) listed 9. D Ward (Malabar Hill) had 4. E Ward (Byculla) had 3.
On Wednesday, Municipal Commissioner Bhushan Gagrani gave new orders. All BMC ward offices must clean roads and drains. They must remove loose stones, paver blocks, and debris from construction sites. This work will continue from May 29 to June 15.
On May 26, the island city had an average of 106 mm of rainfall in 24 hours. Western suburbs received 72 mm. Eastern suburbs got 63 mm.
As per sources, a high tide between 9 and 10 am on Monday worsened the flooding. Reports suggest that the city lacked enough dewatering pumps. This year, the number of pumps was cut from 482 to 417. Many pumps were not fully used last year. Some did not work properly in certain areas.
As per a report by HT, seawater flowed back into drains. This made the waterlogging worse in some areas. BMC usually cleans stormwater drains starting June 1. In many places, trash, sand, and leaves covered drain inlets. Azad Maidan was one of the blocked spots.
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