Mumbai limps back to normal business
FIVE PEOPLE KILLED IN FLOODING OFFICIALS SAY, AS SUN FINALLY GIVES RESIDENTS RELIEF
Country’s financial hub recovers after days of torrential rains and officials say five people have died in the city and Thane suburbs due to flooding |
As India’s financial hub limped backed to normal life, after days of torrential rains, officials said five people had been killed in Mumbai and Thane due to flooding.
Four people were swept away by flood waters in Palghar, Thane district, in separate incidents, including a three-yearold girl who was travelling with her relative on a motorcycle that skidded causing the girl to fall in the flood waters.
She was washed away and her body was recovered later. One person died when a building crashed in Vikhroli, Mumbai.
The meteorological department had sounded a red alert for a heavy downpour yesterday and as a precaution, the Maharashtra government had ordered closure of all schools and colleges and asked all non-essential staff to stay home if the rains continued.
Many banks and offices also asked their staff to stay home.
Fortunately, residents got a break, with the sun peeping out in the afternoon as water in flooded areas receded.
Suburban train services were back on track, with Central Railway on a slow start, but a rainy morning dissuaded many people from venturing out to their places of work.
Records broken
The downpour on Tuesday broke 10-year records as people had to wade through in waistdeep water in many places and forced to walk for several kilometres during the evening rush hour — a nightmare that brought back memories of the 2005 cloudburst that had led to severe flooding and the loss of nearly 1,000 lives in the country’s financial capital.
The city was then unprepared and continues face challenges in the disaster management control wing of the government.
Once again it was the spirit of Mumbai or the ‘Good Samaritan’ response of ordinary people that came to the rescue of many who were stranded miles away from their homes. On Tuesday night, industrialist Anand Mahindra tweeted, reacting to a BBC News (World) tweet: “Houston floods: Night curfew bid to stop robbery and looting” that “And here in Mumbai, a friend stuck in a car to the airport for 5 hrs told me that slum dwellers came out to serve stranded people.”
While religious organisations opened their doors to people caught in the floods, the Indian Navy’s community kitchens provided food and breakfast Wednesday morning at Churchgate, Byculla, Parel, CST, Worli, Tardeo, Mumbai Central Dadar, Mankhurd, Chembur, Malad and Ghatkopar. The Navy also put up four rain shelters to provide a safe haven and basic food, water and first aid for Mumbaikars.
There were huge accolades for the Mumbai Police, as was the case in 2005, for taking stock of the situation when traffic stood still, flood waters raged and citizens had to struggle to reach home.
Passengers sleep at airport
Operations at the airport were back to normal though Jet Airways said 19 of its flights were cancelled yesterday — including those to Kuwait and Jeddah.
Meanwhile, passengers arriving at Mumbai’s airport on Tuesday refused to exit the premises despite there being no flights taking off.
Even though the Mumbai International Airport Limited had arranged buses to main junctions of Mumbai city, many passengers still spent the night at the airport, with some even sleeping on conveyor belts.