High tides head for decade’s record but will spare city during monsoon

Beginning June,which officially marks the monsoon in Mumbai,the high tide will cross 4.5 metres on 26 days,which the BMC disaster management cell has marked,but it will always be below 4.95 m. Over the year,33 days will see the high tide cross 4.5 metres.

“All the high tides around and above 5 metres will take place through the non-monsoon months of January,February and March. Since it doesn’t rain during this period,the effect will be negligible,” said an official from disaster management department.

On January 3,the first major high tide hit 5.09 m. To gauge the effect of such high tides,officials deployed squads at low-lying areas that are prone to flooding even in dry weather.

“Because the wind pressure is low during non-rainy days,there is no impact of high tides with huge height. Except for the rising sea level there was no impact,so we need not worry for the days of high tide before monsoon,” said joint municipal commissioner (disaster management) S S Shinde.

High tidein Mumbai often causes corrosion of the coast line,uproots trees,damages property on the coast,floods low-lying areas and also throws out a large amount of garbage from the sea.

For the BMC,the main concern is damage to human life and inundation caused by tides combined with heavy rains. Mumbai’s archaic drainage system can cope with only 25 mm rainfall every hour and during high tides,the additional seawater rushing back into the drainage system inundates the city.

“We still need to worry about tides beyond 4.5 metres as they can cause considerable damage. We have marked 14 days when tide will be above 4.7 metres and the civic administration will have to be cautious in case of heavy rainfall on those days,” Shinde said.

Last year the highest high tide of the monsoon was on July 24,at 5.05 m. At 5.13 m on January 13,it was the highest of the year. “At a few low-lying areas like Juhu and Badhwar park,the water level on roads had risen but it receded as the tide lowered. This year so far there has been no such incident,” a civic officer said.

Unseasonal rainfall,however,can cause damage despite lower tide levels,officials added. The tide recorded during the 26/7 floods of 2005,caused by a record rainfall of 944 mm in 24 hours,was 4.48 metres.