article

The Maharashtra floods of 2005 refers to the flooding of many parts of the Indian state of Maharashtra including large areas of the metropolis of Mumbai (formerly Bombay), a city located on the coast of the Arabian Sea, on the western coast of India, in which at least 1,000 people died. It happened just one month after similar flooding in Gujarat.

The floods were caused by the eighth heaviest ever recorded 24-hour rainfall figure of 944 mm (37.2 inches) which lashed the metropolis on 26 July 2005, and intermittently continued for the next day. 644 mm (25.4 inches) was received within the 12-hr period between 8am and 8pm. The highest 24-hour period in India was 1,168 mm (46.0 inches)in Aminidivi in the Union Territory of Lakshadweep on 6 May 2004 although some reports suggest that it was a new Indian record. The previous record high rainfall in a 24-hour period for Mumbai was 575 mm (22.6 inches) in 1974.

Other places to be severely affected were Raigad, Chiplun, Ratnagiri and Kalyan in Maharashtra and the southern state of Goa.

The rains slackened between the 28th and 30th of July but picked up in intensity on July 31. The Maharashtra state government declared 27 and 28 as a state holiday for the affected regions. The government also ordered all schools in the affected areas to close on August 1 and August 2. Mumbai Police commissioner Anami Narayan Roy requested all residents to stay indoors as far as possible on July 31 after heavy rains disrupted the city once again, grounding all flights for the day.

Overview

Thousands of schoolchildren were stranded due to flooding and could not reach home for up to 18 hours. The subsequent two days were declared as school and college holidays by the state government. The city region received 73.4 mm (2.89 inches) of rain in the same period, whereas the suburbs received 944 mm (37.2 inches) (the city and suburbs make up the metropolis). The rains hit the state of Goa and parts of western Maharashtra on July 25. 11 people were killed in Goa after landslides on National Highway-17, the major highway on this route. The rains moved up the coast and affected the towns of Ratnagiri, Chiplun and Raigad, with many villages swept away in the sudden deluge.

Adding to the chaos was the lack of public information. Radio stations and many television stations did not receive any weather warnings or alerts by the civic agencies. The Met department blamed it on the lack of sophisticated Doppler radars which would have given a 3 hour prior warning.

Threat to public health

The rain water caused the sewage system to overflow and all water lines were contaminated. The Government ordered all housing societies to add chlorine to their water tanks while they decontaminate the water supply.

Thousands of animal carcasses floated in the flood waters, raising concerns about the possibility of disease.

Reports in the media warned of the threat of waterborne diseases, and hospitals and health centers geared up to distribute free medicines to check any outbreak.

On August 11, the state government declared an epidemic of leptospirosis in Mumbai and its outskirts, later clarifying that there was no such threat anywhere else in Maharashtra. 66 people died of fever suspected to be leptospirosis. 749 people were admitted with such fever, with 41 cases "unstable" and in an advanced stage of the disease. The BMC declared three zones - P South (Goregaon) ward, L ward (Kurla) and H East (Bandra-Kalina) - as criticial areas for being "hygienically sensitive".

Topography

India's eastern coast receives high rainfall due to the presence of the Western Ghats which lie at about 50 km (30 miles) from the coast. The hill range runs parallel to the Indian coast at an average altitude of 1,200 metres (3,900 ft). Rain bearing clouds generally deposit much of their moisture through orographic rainfall along India's eastern coast which lies on the windward side of the hills.

Financial effect

The financial cost of floods was unprecedented and these floods caused a stoppage of entire commercial, trading, and industrial activity for days. Preliminary indications indicate that the floods caused a direct loss of about Rs. 450 crores (€80 million or US$100 million). The financial impact of the floods were manifested in a variety of ways:

  • The banking transactions across the counters were adversely affected and many branches and commercial establishments were unable to function from late evening of 26 July 2005. The state government declared the 27th (and later, 28th) of July as a public holiday. ATM networks of several banks, which included the State Bank of India, the largest bank of India; ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, and several foreign banks like Citibank and HSBC, stopped functioning from the afternoon of 26 July 2005 at all the centers of Mumbai. ATM transactions could not be carried out in several parts of India on 26 July 2005 or 27 July 2005 due to failure of the connectivity with their central systems located in Mumbai.

Effect on Mumbai's links to the rest of the world

  • For the first time ever, Mumbai's domestic and international airports (including Chatrapati Shivaji International Airport, Sahar and Juhu aerodrome) were shut for more than 30 hours due to heavy flooding of the runways and extremely poor visibility. Over 700 flights were cancelled or delayed. The airports reopened on the morning of 28 July 2005. Rediff. Within 24 hours of the airports becoming operational, there were 185 departures and 184 arrivals, including international flights. Again from early morning of 31st July, with increase in water logging of the runways and different parts of Mumbai, most of the flights were indefinitely cancelled.
  • Rail links were disrupted, and reports on late evening of 30th July indicated cancellation of several long distance trains up to 6th August, 2005.
  • Mumbai-Pune Expressway, which witnessed a number of landslides, was closed, for the first time ever, for 24 hours.
  • According to Hindustan Times, an unprecedented 5 million mobile and 2.3 million MTNL landline users were hit for over four hours.
  • According to the .in registrar (personal communication), the .in DNS servers in Mumbai had to be reconfigured because the servers were not operational.

Transport stats
  • 52 local trains damaged
  • 37,000 autorickshaws spoilt
  • 4,000 taxis
  • 900 BEST buses damaged
  • 10,000 trucks and tempos grounded

Human tragedy

On 28 July 2005, the BBC reported that the death toll to be at least 430 in the state of Maharashtra. By 31 July 2005 this had risen to at least 1,000.

Deaths in the city were due to:
  • Total: 406
  • Drowning: 233
  • Landslide: 120 ; 65 alone were killed by a landslide at Saki Naka. The fire brigade arrived after 15 hours. On July 31, boulders are still being cleared and the count of the dead is rising.
  • Stampede: 24 deaths caused by a stampede which occurred due to a false tsunami rumor at a slum in Vile Parle. Residents of low lying coastal areas, who had faced the floods just 48 hours back, panicked and rushed towards higher ground.
  • Trapped in vehicle: 16 deaths from suffocation in cars after water levels rose rapidly, preventing escape.
  • Electrocution: 12
  • Wall collapse: 5; the count may rise as more incidents are tallied (Sunday newspapers report a wall collapse in a school for the first time).
  • Diseases: 25, most deaths were due to water borne diseases & leptospirosis.

Factors aggravating the disaster in Mumbai

Antiquated drainage system

The present storm-water drainage system in Mumbai was put in place in the early 20th century and is capable of carrying only 25 millimetres of water per hour which was extremely inadequate on a day when 944 mm of rain fell in the city. The drainage system is also clogged at several places.

Only 3 'outfalls' (ways out to the sea) are equipped with floodgates whereas the remaining 102 open directly into the sea. As a result, there is no way to stop the seawater from rushing into the drainage system during high tide.

In 1990, an ambitious plan was drawn to overhaul the city's storm water drainage system which had not been reviewed in over 50 years. A project costing approximately 600 crore rupees was proposed by UK based consultants hired by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation to study the matter. Implementation of the project would have ensured that rainwater did not flood the streets of Mumbai. The project was planned to have completed by 2002 and aimed to enhance the drainage system through larger diameter storm water drains and pipes, using pumps wherever necessary and removing encroachments. The project, if implemented would have doubled the storm water carrying capacity to 50 mm per hour.

The BMC committee rejected the proposed project on the grounds that it was "too costly".

Uncontrolled, unplanned development in Northern Suburbs

Unlike South Mumbai, development in northern suburbs of Mumbai is haphazard and buildings are constructed without proper planning. The drainage plans in northern suburbs is chalked out as and when required in a particular area and not from an overall point of view.

The Environment Ministry of the Government of India was informed in the early 1990s that sanctioning the Bandra-Kurla complex (a commercial complex in northern Mumbai) was leading to disaster. No environment clearance is mandatory for large urban construction projects in northern Mumbai. Officials in the environment ministry claimed that it was not practical to impose new guidelines with retrospective effect "as there are millions of buildings".

Destruction of mangrove ecosystems

Mangrove ecosystems which exist along the Mithi River and Mahim Creek are being destroyed and replaced with construction. Hundreds of acres of swamps in Mahim creek have been reclaimed and put to use for construction by builders. These ecosystems serve as a buffer between land and sea. It is estimated that Mumbai has lost about 40% of its mangroves between 1995 and 2005, some to builders and some to encroachment (slums). Sewage and garbage dumps have also destroyed mangroves. The Bandra-Kurla complex in particular was created by replacing such swamps.

References

External links

Natural disasters in India | 2005 disasters | Floods | History of Mumbai

Powódź w stanie Maharasztra, 2005

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "2005 Maharashtra floods".

Home Page • arts • business • computers • games • health • hospitals • home • kids & teens • news • physicians • recreation• reference • regional • science • shopping • society • sports • world