On Tuesday morning, if it were to rain incessantly as it did on Monday, Mumbai could well experience flooding. The high tide — expectedly of 3.87m — on Tuesday will begin at 9.45 am and go on till late afternoon, said civic officials.
As it is on Monday, the dreaded Mithi River — the epicentre of havoc that was created during July 2005 deluge — almost rose up to the danger mark at 4 pm following the overflow of Tulsi and Powai lakes which are directly drained to the river.
SS Korlekar, chief engineer, storm water drain department (BMC), said, “If the river level rises up to the Mithi river bridge and it gets submerged, it could spell danger. The level was just 0.2 m lower than the bridge height. Now (at 7.15 pm on Monday) the level has come down by 0.6 m.”
On Monday, in spite of heavy rains and accompanying gusty winds, water-logging was marginal, thanks mainly to high tide not coinciding with the downpour. The rainfall for Colaba 249.7mm and 154.5 Santacruz recorded in last 24 hours. The high tide, of 3.63 m, started at 8.42 am and lasted till 2.14 pm. High tide, this time of 3.31 m, resurfaced at 7.28 pm.
Taking lessons from the past, civic authorities shut down four subways at Milan, Andheri, Dahisar and Khar to traffic for a few hours.
Municipal commissioner Jairaj Phatak said, “Despite heavy rains there was no major water logging in the city. All the departments of BMC were prepared to tackle the emergency situation and attended every little complaints at ward levels.”
The disappointing news came from the catchment areas, with the rainfall negligible in and around Upper Vaitarna, Bhatsa, Tansa and Vihar. MM Kamble, BMC’s hydraulic engineer, said, “The 15% water cut imposed on Mumbaikars due to a delayed monsoon will continue throughout the city.” Train services reported an average delay of 15 to 30 minutes.
