Rains are always awaited badly to beat the heat. But rains turning into disaster are quite cumbersome. As rainy water takes the shape of flood and these flood turns into a natural disaster and these disasters take many lives.
Maybe in any of the ways, human lives are affected.
Rains turn into a flood in two ways:
Firstly, the water bodies(rivers, ponds, sea & ocean) around us starts overflowing due to excess rain and when the extremes are crossed it takes the shape of flood, which enters into the living spaces of people and takes away many lives, goods, houses, roads, barriers etc. along with it. This is beyond our control.
Secondly, these rains lead to waterlogging and traffic congestion in the city. This water-logging is also a kind of flood where again water seeps into the living areas of people. This again takes many lives which occur either by the wrecking of houses or by congestion.
Both the conditions are worse, but the second condition can be taken care of by planning and managing the things well in the living areas.
In Mumbai for the past 48 hours it is raining and due to which water has accumulated in many areas, making it difficult for people to move in and out. Local trains also called the lifeline of people were also affected, out of which few were cancelled and few were running with delay timings due to waterlogging.
IMD (Indian Metrological Department) has forecasted rain for another three days.
Torrents due to rain have paralyzed Mumbai and took away 19 lives in the city and its neighbourhood. Mumbai has received the heaviest rain in a decade yesterday (01/07/2019). The Meteorological Department has warned of more rain in Mumbai, Palghar, Thane and Raigad in the next few hours.
In Mumbai, Suburban trains were cancelled by the Central Railways, which cited “nature’s fury”. Over a dozen people were killed as a wall crashed in Malad around 2 am; efforts are on to save a 10-year-old girl trapped under the debris.
Pictures from Nalasopara showed the railway station waterlogged. Flights have been diverted as the main runway of the Mumbai airport is blocked by a stranded plane. The weather Department warned of “extremely heavy” rainfall in adjoining areas of Thane and Palghar on July 2, 4 and 5. Private weather agency Skymet said Mumbai is at “serious risk of flooding” between July 3 and 5. It could be”Close to 200 mm or more rain per day is likely during this period, which could hamper normal life.
52 flights have been cancelled and 55 diverted because of bad weather and the skidding of the SpiceJet plane, forcing a shutdown of the main runway at the airport. The Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport officials said it may take up to 48 hours before the main runway is restored. A secondary runway is operational for flights.
Flights delayed due to Rain
Waterlogging on roads
Mumbai has received 540 millimetres of rain since Sunday night – the highest over a two-day period in the last decade – Mumbai Municipal Commissioner Praveen Pardeshi told NDTV. “…In June, average rainfall was 515 mm. Now it has reached to 540 mm in just two days. This is the highest in a decade,” he said. The city is set for more downpours in the next 24 to 48 hours. The Regional Meteorological Centre has warned of heavy to very heavy rainfall in Mumbai city and its suburbs.
Western Railways hard work in planning & execution of monsoon works at Nallasopara as per directives of Sh Piyush Goyal & under the personal supervision of GM/WR finally paid off. In spite of decade’s heaviest rainfall in 3 days(1000 mm +), WR has been able to keep wheels of Mumbai local moving.
Why No Control over Floods:
India’s richest civic body Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, led by Shiv Sena is running the city. The condition was severe on Tuesday but the municipal body denied its failure, saying the situation was “exceptional” and its machinery was geared up to meet the situation. Unfortunately, ahead of the rains, BMC had promised no water logging in the city this year.
Why rains choke Mumbai
Since a long, heavy rain choking the maximum city has become almost an annual affair in the last decade. The reasons are old but not taken sincerely. In August 2005, whatever was the reason, it remained the same. So, the rainfall is of 95 cm or 50 cm that is not the issue. Their fault lies in misplanning of the city. In any case, disaster management planning has to be on their toes as it is supposed to be 1.25 to 1.5 metres of rain within 24 hours.
Looking at these disasters it becomes the prime duty of authorities to overcome these disastrous situations. For this, it could be, clearing slums, cleaning of drainages, cleaning of cities, well-managed roads and parking.
Question for Thought:
Whatever is the reason, but why? These reasons should be faced by general people and why? The masses are losing their lives on behalf of mismanagement and misplanning of powered and elected people responsible for it.
