The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) had to evacuate over 1,600 people living along the banks of the Mithi river on Monday night, as they were at the risk of having their homes submerged.
The city received 374.2 mm rainfall over the 24 hours leading up to 8.30 a.m. on Tuesday, during which time the disaster management cell received 3,593 distress calls. “There was waterlogging in 53 spots across the city. The rainfall was nearly 60% of the average rainfall that the city receives in June,” Ashwini Joshi, additional municipal commissioner, BMC, said.
Those evacuated have been given shelter in a municipal school in Bail Bazaar in Kurla.
Ms. Joshi said there were over 1,400 pumps, but there was no scope of draining the excess water into the Mithi. “The river was running at full capacity. The rainfall the city received, coupled with a high tide of 4.92 metres at 11.30 a.m. and the geography of areas such as Kurla and Sion provided no drainage options,” she said.
Ms. Joshi said there were 17 incidents of walls collapsing in the city: one in the island city, nine in the western suburbs and seven in the eastern suburbs. The BMC recorded 15 instances of trees falling, out of which three were in the island city, three in the eastern suburbs and four in the western suburbs.
