It took 67 mm of moderate rainfall to expose the citys vulnerability to the monsoon,despite the tall claims of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). Mumbaiites got a taste of what lies ahead with the flooding of several areas and the inevitable traffic chaos and delayed train services. The civic administration had said it could handle rains up to 350 mm a day,thanks to the BRIMSTOWAD project-aimed at widening and deepening of nullahs and improving the storm water drain network in the city-and complete desilting of nullahs. But 67 mm inundated the regular chronic flooding spots at Mahim Church,near Sardar Hotel in Kalachowkie,in Byculla,opposite Mahalaxmi Temple,at Poonam Chambers in Worli,in Hindmata,in Sewree and in parts of Irla. In Central Mumbai,the BMC had repaired the storm-water department pipeline,saying this would now prevent flooding at Chinchpokli railway bridge. It had also linked stretches of arch drains at Raey Road and built new arch drains on Ambedkar Road to prevent flooding in Hindmata. Officials had said there would be no flooding in these parts unless there was high tide. Friday did have high tide,4.9 metres,but that was scheduled at 3 pm while Hindmata and parts of Kalachowkie were flooded since the morning. Water was at waist level, said Ravi Bane,who usually takes a bus from Kalachowkie to his office in Colaba. Irla resident Suchitra Anand had banked on the civic administrations promises of commissioning the Irla pumping station by the monsoon. Construction is still under way and,she said,The situation has remained the same: waterlogging. Civic officials played down the chaos. There was some waterlogging at the regular,low-lying spots but the water receded faster, said chief engineer (SWD) V Joshi. The rain also disrupted road,railway and air traffic. There was an average departure delay of 20 minutes and arrivals were affected by around 10 minutes, said an airport spokesperson. Visibility settled around 1200 metres and no flights were cancelled. The railways saw delays of around 20 minutes. Traffic crawled in Hindmata,near KEM Junction,at Sewree Crematorium Junction and at Cadbury Junction. The rain toppled 22 trees and caused a minor landslide in Worli,at Gautami Chawl-Maya Nagar,injuring a teen. Residents were served another eviction notice. The weather office said it will continue to rain till Saturday evening,with about 100 mm in the day. The southwest monsoon has now covered the entire state, said Dr R V Sharma,deputy director general of IMD,Mumbai. Key lakes remain dryThe rains in Mumbai failed to raise the water level in the six lakes in Thane and Shahpur districts,which supply water to Mumbai. Hydraulic engineer S Korlekar said,There should be a continuous downpour of at least 80 mm for the lakes to start filling. Except for Modak Sagar Lake and Upper Vaitarna it is only drizzling in the catchment areas. Dipping lake levels had resulted in a 20 per cent water cut in the city.
