In July 2005, as we all here remember, Mumbai was affected by floods, where at least 1,000 people died, many people were left homeless, and many lost their loved ones. Many of us, too, had been away from our houses for a few days.
The floods were caused by the 8'th heaviest ever recorded 24 hour rainfall figure of 944mm(37.2 inches) which lashed the metropolis on the 26'th July, 2005, and intermittently continued for the next day. 644 mm (25.4 inches) was received within the 12-hr period between 8am and 8pm.
The rains slackened between the 28th and 30th of July but picked up in intensity on July 31. The Maharashtra state government declared 27 and 28 as a state holiday for the affected regions. The government also ordered all schools in the affected areas to close on August 1 and August 2. Mumbai Police commissioner Anami Narayan Roy requested all residents to stay indoors as far as possible on July 31 after heavy rains disrupted the city once again, grounding all flights for the day.
Overview
Thousands of schoolchildren were stranded due to flooding and could not reach home for up to 18 hours. The subsequent two days were declared as school and college holidays by the state government. The city region received 73.4 mm (2.89 inches) of rain in the same period, whereas the suburbs received 944 mm (37.2 inches) (the city and suburbs make up the metropolis).
Areas in Mumbai badly affected by the flooding
Adding to the chaos was the lack of public information. Radio stations and many television stations did not receive any weather warnings or alerts by the civic agencies. The Met department blamed it on the lack of sophisticated Doppler radars which would have given a 3 hour prior warning.
Threat to public health
The rain water caused the sewage system to overflow and all water lines were contaminated. The Government ordered all housing societies to add chlorine to their water tanks while they decontaminate the water supply.
Thousands of animal carcasses floated in the flood waters, raising concerns about the possibility of disease.
Reports in the media warned of the threat of waterborne diseases, and hospitals and health centers geared up to distribute free medicines to check any outbreak.
On August 11, the state government declared an epidemic of leptospirosis in Mumbai and its outskirts, later clarifying that there was no such threat anywhere in Maharashtra.
66 people have died of fever suspected to be leptospirosis.
749 people have been admitted with such fever with 41 cases "unstable" and in an advanced stage of the disease.
The BMC declared three zones - P South (Goregaon) ward, L ward (Kurla) and H East (Bandra-Kalina) - as criticial areas for being "hygienically sensitive".
Financial effect
The financial cost of floods was unprecedented and these floods caused a stoppage of entire commercial, trading, and industrial activity for days. Preliminary indications indicate that the floods caused a direct loss of about Rs. 450 crores (€80 million or US$100 million). The financial impact of the floods were manifested in a variety of ways:
The banking transactions across the counters were adversely affected and many branches and commercial establishments were unable to function from late evening of 26 July 2005. The state government declared the 27th (and later the 28th) of July as a public holiday. ATM networks of several banks, which included the the largest bank of India, State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, and several foreign banks like Citibank and HSBC, stopped functioning from the afternoon of 26 July 2005 at all the centers of Mumbai.
The Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange of India, the premier stock exchanges of India could function only partially. As most of the trading are eTrading, trading terminals of the brokerage houses across the country remained largely inoperative.
Effect on Mumbai's Transport
For the first time ever, Mumbai's domestic and international airports (including Chatrapati Shivaji International Airport, Sahar and Juhu aerodrome) were shut for more than 30 hours due to heavy flooding of the runways and extremely poor visibility. Over 700 flights were cancelled or delayed.
Rail links were disrupted, and reports on late evening of 30th July indicated cancellation of several long distance trains up to 6th August, 2005.
Mumbai-Pune Expressway, which witnessed a number of landslides, was closed, for the first time ever, for 24 hours.
According to Hindustan Times, an unprecedented 5 million mobile and 2.3 million MTNL landline users were hit for over four hours.
According to the .in registrar (personal communication), the .in DNS servers in Mumbai had to be reconfigured because the servers were not operational.
Transport stats
52 local trains damaged
37,000 auto rickshaws spoilt
4,000 taxis
900 BEST buses damaged
10,000 trucks and tempos grounded
Factors aggravating the disaster in Mumbai
Antiquated drainage system
The present storm-water drainage system in Mumbai was put in place in the early 20th century and is capable of carrying only 25 millimeters of water per hour which was extremely inadequate on a day when 944 mm of rain fell in the city. The drainage system is also clogged at several places.
Only 3 'outfalls' (ways out to the sea) are equipped with floodgates whereas the remaining 102 open directly into the sea. As a result, there is no way to stop the seawater from rushing into the drainage system during high tide.
In 1990, an ambitious plan was drawn to overhaul the city's storm water drainage system which had not been reviewed in over 50 years. A project costing approximately 600 crore rupees was proposed by UK based consultants hired by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation to study the matter. The BMC committee rejected the proposed project on the grounds that it was "too costly".
Uncontrolled, unplanned development in Northern Suburbs
Unlike South Mumbai, development in northern suburbs of Mumbai is haphazard and buildings are constructed without proper planning. The drainage plans in northern suburbs is chalked out as and when required in a particular area and not from an overall point of view.
The Environment Ministry of the Government of India was informed in the early 1990s that sanctioning the Bandra-Kurla complex was leading to disaster. No environment clearance is mandatory for large urban construction projects in northern Mumbai.
Officials in the environment ministry claimed that it was not practical to impose new guidelines with retrospective effect "as there are millions of buildings".
Mangrove ecosystems which exist along the Mithi River and Mahim Creek are being destroyed and replaced with construction.
Hundreds of acres of swamps in Mahim creek have been reclaimed and put to use for construction by builders.
Sewage and garbage dumps have also destroyed mangroves. The Bandra-Kurla complex in particular was created by replacing such swamps.
We must word hard and act now to prevent another similar disaster from occuring. Above all, we must actively stop pollution, and pray to God, to prevent abuse of the Mithi river.