Can't Sing When It Pours

Regular life came to a standstill, train services were affected, even the airport was closed down for brief periods. Low-lying areas of Sion, Kurla, Grant Road registered the usual waterlogging while the problem surfaced for the first time in areas like suburban Andheri and Goregaon. Lessons learnt from the July flood last year did stand the civic administration in good stead—they kept up an information flow to citizens. Still, a lack of coordination between the different agencies was evident.

The civic administration was left to deal with the side-effects of transport projects undertaken by the Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority—debris from the project blocked the storm water drains which led to water-logging. The Disaster Management Centre was also found wanting. CM Vilasrao Deshmukh and municipal commissioner Johny Joseph were on call, but that’s not enough done. The people won’t tolerate a second disaster.