The fear of the monsoon havoc hit Mumbaiites once again on Tuesday morning as rail and road traffic were stalled by waterlogging and two people were washed away by flood waters in suburban drains. Worse, by evening, a harried Municipal Commissioner Jairaj Phatak had this to say: “In the low-lying country, The Netherlands, people have learnt to live with rains, as they cannot cope with the situation.”

Addressing a press conference at the civic headquarters, Phatak said that the geographical location of The Netherlands, where various portions are below sea level, makes parts of the country prone to floods. “Since people have not been able to find a solution for the floods, they have learnt to live with it,” he said.

When aghast mediapersons asked the commissioner if he was suggesting that residents of the financial capital should do so as well, Phatak quickly said he did not mean that, going on to repeat the old explanation of high tide coupled with heavy rains and the consequent delay in flood waters receding.

In the 30 hours ending 2.30 pm on Tuesday, the city saw 200 mm rainfall at Colaba and 149.9 mm rainfall at Santacruz. Before the monsoon, the civic administration had assured citizens that the newly widened drains were capable of handling a maximum of 400 mm rain in a day’s time.

Still, on Tuesday, chronic spots were waterlogged all over again, with areas such as Kala Chowkie, Hindmata, Amulak School, Milan Subway, Pandurang Budhkar Marg, Dadar workshop, King’s Circle, Grant Road station, Malad Subway and Kurar among the worst hit.

Areas like Kurla and Kalina saw severe inundation too. “Areas like Nester Colony and Manipada are flooded. We are working with the disaster management teams to ensure that the rescue operations are carried out,” said Johnson Teratil, an activist from Kalina.

Phatak said that whenever there is high tide, it takes longer time for water to recede. He also added that the number of monsoon days seeing more than 75 mm rainfall has increased over the years. This has resulted in an increasing number of flooding incidents, he said.

However, as the rains stopped later, the flood water drained out in the afternoon and transportation limped back to normal. Civic officials pointed out that water had receded quicker than in the past.

“The implementation of BRIMSTOWAD project at Hindmata area is showing as the water flooded here drained out immediately after high tide,” said Additional Municipal Commissioner R A Rajeev who handles the Storm Water Drains department and the Rs 1,800-crore BRIMSTOWAD project.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, after inspecting the flooded spots, directed Phatak to keep the civic machinery working around the clock so that the citizens are not inconvenienced. Deshmukh toured the flood-affected areas of Lower Parel, Bharatmata, Mahalaxmi, Haji Ali and Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Road on Tuesday morning. He instructed the BMC to take safety precautions and post labourers near open manholes and to make use of pumps to clear flooded areas. He also expressed satisfaction that after a long dry spell of more than two weeks, the monsoon had finally made a comeback.

Rains claim two lives
* Tuesday’s heavy rains claimed two lives — 65-year-old Jayantilal Shah and a 15-year-old boy. Shah slipped and fell into a nullah while returning from a visit to the Jain temple on Sudhir Phadke Road near MHB Colony, Borivali (West). Around 12.45 pm, a 15-year-old boy was reported to have been washed away in Poisor nullah near the Bihari Tekdi, Kandivli.
* Two fatalities due to monsoon-related ailments were recorded in city hospitals in the last 24 hours, with one person succumbing to fever and other to gastroenteritis, taking the season’s death toll due to rain-related diseases to 37.

Forecast
The weather bureau predicts intermittent rain or thundershowers for Wednesday, with possibilities of heavy to very heavy rainfall in the city and suburbs. There is also a possibility of strong gusty winds.

Flights delayed
The rains took a heavy toll on airside operations at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA) where general flight movements were delayed throughout the day. Due to high volume of water level in the Mithi river, a portion of which runs under the runway, the airport’s landside operations were hit too. Further complications occurred when the Air Traffic Control (ATC) suspended runway operations — take-offs and landings — between 8.15 am and 8.30 am owing to extremely poor visibility that fell below 300 metres. A spokesperson for Mumbai International Airport Limited said there was an average flight arrival delay of 20 minutes and 35 minutes average delay in flight departures throughout the day.

Taxis stranded
Taxi services at the CSIA were interrupted too as the taxi stand outside Terminal 2A was inundated. According to Kanhaiya Singh, President of the Mumbai Airport Taxi Rickshaw Union, all the drains around the parking area are clogged with debris from construction activity. MIAL officials maintain that the flooding happened not because the drains were choked but because there was a backflow of Mithi river water through connecting drains.