After the flood: Traders, residents in Kurla count the cost

Most of the lanes flanking LBS Marg along the eastern suburbs, from Sion to Kurla and beyond, have shops, workshops and factories on the ground floor

MUMBAI: Mumbai received a staggering 447mm of rain in the 48 hours from Monday morning till Wednesday, the eastern suburbs accounting for 346mm. Kurla, along with others areas along LBS Marg, was one of the localities worst hit by waterlogging on Tuesday.

Insaaf Khan, who owns a small shoe shop in Prem Nagar, was seated on the floor, wiping his stock of shoes with a clean cloth and keeping them out to dry. (Photo by Sabah Virani)

A day later, shops and residents took stock of the damage and losses, and set about getting their lives back in order. While shops were directly in the path of the flood waters, ground floor residents moved up a level, either into their own extended storeys or into those of acquaintances.

“I lost goods worth ₹10-15 lakh,” said Raju Diamond, owner of a false-ceiling and gypsum shop on LBS Marg at Sion. “Water seeped into my shop. We kept trying to flush it out with buckets, but it made little difference. When gypsum gets wet, it has to be used immediately or it goes to waste.”

Insaaf Khan, who owns a small shoe shop in Prem Nagar, just off LBS Marg, was devastated. On Tuesday, the water rose to shoulder level. On Wednesday evening, he was seated on the floor, wiping his stock of shoes with a clean cloth and keeping them out to dry.

A grocer in the same locality said he lost food stocks worth ₹25,000-30,000 but he didn’t blame the authorities. “It is the people who throw trash in the nallahs and gutters and clog them. How will the rain water drain?” said Rudal Chandrashekar Tiwari.

A wheat and dal mill along LBS Marg had 10 sacks of dal soaked with flood water, each containing 50kg of grain and pulses. The owner, Santosh Kumar, asked, “Should I have scrambled to save my machinery, which is far more expensive, or the many bags people had given me to be ground into flour?”

A foam-and-cardboard workshop in one of the bylanes of Dharavi, Sion, was back in business on Wednesday, after estimated losses of ₹10,000. Thankfully, there was only raw material stacked in the workshop on Tuesday. One of the workers, Mehtab Alam, said, “Flooding is frequent here. It didn’t happen in the last two years, but it did with a vengeance yesterday.”

Most of the lanes flanking LBS Marg along the eastern suburbs, from Sion to Kurla and beyond, have shops, workshops and factories on the ground floor. Many have an additional level, which they use as storage or to rest.

An exception is the home of Yogi Raj Kale, who lives in Kurla, in a makeshift home. While his brother and children took refuge in a relative’s home on Tuesday, Kale and his wife were marooned on a bed as flood waters swirled around them. “The electricity was gone till Wednesday morning, and we had no access to food, water, or anything else,” said Kale.

But even those with a loft or mezzanine, it wasn’t easy. Said Kajal Gupta, “We shifted everything upstairs, including the fridge, LPG cylinder and foodgrains, carrying them up the flimsy staircase to the loft.” For many, like Kajal, it was everything they owned.