The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) along with local civic volunteers and NGOs have relocated many residents who have been living in low-lying areas prone to flooding.
After the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) issued an alert, the civic body had already kept all the temporary shelters on standby for evacuation.
The tidal waves intensified during the high tide on Monday morning and as a result, people living in the low-lying areas of Bandra, Mahim, Khar and Worli were shifted to nearby shelter houses.
Senior officials said they had kept ready local municipal schools and community houses where these people were moved.
“We had tied up with local NGOs and social workers who had supplied them with food. After the high tide receded during the afternoon, the residents went back to their places,” said an official.
Bandra West corporator Asif Zakaria said that local residents living in slums at the Bandra reclamation were also shifted to civic schools as there were big hoardings alongside the western express highway.
“The winds were blowing heavily and we didn’t want to risk the lives of the people so we moved them to safety to prevent any catastrophe,” Zakaria told FPJ.
However he maintained that, apart from the rains, the main problem was caused by trees falling in his areas.
“Since afternoon I received 40-50 calls of tree falling in my constituency, traffic movement has been stalled and many slums got destroyed as trees had fallen over them,” Zakaria added.
The people living near the sea Malad and Marve in western suburbs, had their houses inundated during the rains. Local corporators and civic officials had shifted them to nearby civic shelter houses during the day time.
“Most of these houses are in the close proximity of the sea, their houses got flooded after the sea waters overflowed outside,” said a local civic official.
Ashok Kamgar, a local resident who was shifted to a shelter along with his family members said, even though there was low tide during the day the tidal waves were flowing heavily.
“We were afraid that our houses would get washed away, such was the impact of the waves. I have been living here for more than five decades but this is the fiercest storm that I have seen till date,” Kamgar told FPJ.
In South Mumbai, the impact of tidal waves were not very intense
“Fortunately the areas like Geeta Nagar and Ganesh Murti Nagar didn’t face such adverse impact as the tidal waves were not very harsh over there. However many boats of the fishermen got affected during the rains,” said Harshita Narwekar – BJP corporator of Cuffe Parade.
Narwekar also said keeping in mind the risk of flooding, she had also requested the electric supply authorities to temporarily stop power supply. Alongside these residents of Andheri, Goregaon, Juhu and Versova had also complained of disrupted electricity supply.
“Since Monday morning there was no electricity in our area, however the supply was restored during late evening,” said Ashish Bakshi, a Juhu resident.
Another Versova resident, Rashmi Deshmukh, said after the winds started to intensify during the morning, the power supply in most of Andheri west was affected.
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