With the second highest high tide of this monsoon season forecast on Saturday afternoon at 4.84 metres and the Indian Meteorological Department also predicting spells of rain or thundershowers with gusty winds, Mumbaiites are gearing up for a possibly wet weekend.

Over the past years, the city has seen severe waterlogging when high tide is over 4.5 metres during heavy rain.

On Saturday, a high tide of 4.84 metres is expected around 2.10 pm. This will be the second highest after 4.86 metres on June 5, the day the rains arrived in the city.

Meanwhile, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation is now blaming global warming for the frequent flooding.

After recently stating how people of The Netherlands have learnt to “live with” floods, Municipal Commissioner Jairaj Phatak addressing a press conference on Friday circulated a copy of a report titled ‘Mumbai faces flooding due to global warming’ to make his point.

The report highlighted a study published in the journal ‘Environment and Urbanisation’, which has listed Mumbai along with Tokyo, New York, Shanghai, Jakarta and Dhaka as cities which are at a risk of flooding and heavy storms. The report has said that there are more than 634 million people worldwide who reside on coastal areas that lie at less than 33 feet above sea level and are at risk of flooding.

When asked by reporters about important meassures required to cope with and predict floods like contour maps and sluice gates, Phatak passed on the question to his deputy.

Additional municipal commissioner R A Rajeev said the civic administration has been working to provide solutions. “We have undertaken work for BRIMSTOWAD and as for contour maps, we are yet to meet the Ministry of Defence officials for granting us the permission,” he said.