Wall collapse kills 15 as monsoon causes chaos in Mumbai
AT LEAST 15 people were k illed in Mumbai early on Tuesday when a wall collapsed as torrentia l monsoon downpours brought chaos to India’s financial capita l and surrounding areas.
Another 69 were injured when the structure came down around 2am (2030 GMT on Monday) in a slum sett lement, said Tanaji Kamble, a disaster management spokesman for Mumbai’s loca l aut horit y.
The tragedy came as the teeming coasta l sett lement of 20 million residents was lashed by heav y ra ins for a second consecutive day, bringing t he cit y to a v irtual sta ndstil l.
Authorities declared Tuesday a public holiday and adv ised a ll residents to stay indoors. Schools and colleges were closed while a lmost 100 flights were eit her cancelled or diverted from Mumbai airport.
The airport’s main runway was shut af ter a SpiceJet plane carr y ing 167 passengers and crew overshot t he runway shortly before midnight on Monday.
“It will ta ke some time to move t he aircraf t,” a spokesperson for t he airport said.
According to Sk y met Weather, a private weather track ing agency, large swathes of Mumbai received around 350mm (13 inches) of rain overnight into Tuesday morning.
The deluge left low-lying parts submerged in water.
“Ever y thing around us is flooded. It’s scar y and t he problem persists ever y year despite government promises,” said Visha l Agawane, a 32-year-old resident of Dharavi, one of Asia’s largest slums.
Around 1,000 people liv ing close to t he cit y’s Mithi river were evacuated to higher ground as t he river t hreatened to burst its banks, said Kamble, the disaster spokesman.
Train ser v ices on Mumbai’s colonia l-era ra il net work, a lifeline for t he cit y’s population, were disrupted due to waterlogged tracks while motorists were seen pushing cars through flooded streets.
Rescuers were sifting t hrough t he wreckage of the wall that collapsed in a slum area in Mumbai’s north, in the hope of finding more sur v ivors trapped under rubble.
‘Begging for water’
An unnamed man helping efforts told NDTV that they had located a 10-year-old girl.
“She is begging for water. The fire department is doing its best to tr y to rescue her,” he told t he news channel.
Building collapses are common during the monsoon when dilapidated structures buckle under the weight of continuous rain.
Three people, including a toddler, were a lso k illed on Tuesday in Thane district, which borders Mumbai, when a wall collapsed at a school.
And si x labourers died near the western cit y of Pune, 150km (around 100 miles) from Mumbai, when a wall fell onto their makeshif t shacks. At least 15 labourers died in a similar accident on Saturday.
Mumbai’s streets regularly flood during the monsoon, which runs from June until September or October, and which prov ides India with most of its annual ra infa ll.
In 2005, 950mm (37 inches) of rain fell on the coastal metropolis in just 24 hours, killing more than 500 people.
In August 2017, intense rainfall brought the commercial hub to a virtual standstill for two days and left at least 10 people dead.
Activ ists say Mumbai’s susceptibilit y to floods has worsened in recent years due to a construction boom that is tr y ing to keep up with t he cit y’s swelling population.
Much of Mumbai’s mangrove cover, which is extremely effective in helping to drain water, has been destroyed over the past decade to make way for glitzy high-rises.
According to various studies, anywhere between 40 to 50 per cent of the city’s population live in slums, which become a sea of blue tarpaulin every monsoon as residents try to keep out the rain.