Early monsoon exposes BMC as rainwater floods South Mumbai

South Mumbai received over 250 mm of rainfall which, the India Meteorological Department considers to be ‘extreme’.

The Mumbai monsoon arrived two weeks ahead of schedule on Monday, dropping more than 250mm of rainfall in South Mumbai and exposing the civic administration’s utter lack of preparedness. While heavy rain was patchy in the suburbs, South Mumbai was hardest hit.

Several South Mumbai areas, including Colaba, Breach Candy, Kemps Corner, Fort, Churchgate, Marine Drive, reported severe waterlogging. (Anshuman Poyrekar/ Hindustan Times)

Several localities that never experience waterlogging in South Mumbai were flooded on Monday. The deluge began at midnight on Sunday and by 11am, areas such as Colaba, Breach Candy, Kemps Corner, Fort, Churchgate, Marine Drive, the high court area, Mantralaya, Grant Road and Nana Chowk were inundated – more than 250mm in just 13 hours.

According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), rainfall over the 250mm mark is considered ‘extreme’.

The chaos was intensified by several factors, including the removal of dewatering pumps in flood-prone areas, poorly designed roads concreted recently, blocked drains due to non-removal of cement from road work, lack of desilting, and the timing of the downpour coinciding with high tide.

However, BMC’s lack of preparedness was evident as early pre-monsoon showers had indicated the early arrival of the monsoon. Additional municipal commissioner (projects) Abhijit Bangar was defensive, saying, “There was no specific warning for such intense rain. While early showers were expected, the rainfall on May 25–26 was completely unpredictable.”

Dewatering pumps, typically installed in flood-prone areas, were not operational, a key reason for the unprecedented waterlogging. Bangar admitted that pumps in areas like Hindmata, Gandhi Market and Masjid Bunder were not fully operational – they had also been reduced from 482 to 417. Bangar claimed many of these pumps were underutilised despite the civic body spending ₹1.5 crore on them annually. He said the BMC had to cut costs.

‘Inadequate drain cleaning’, ‘major road scam’

A civic official from D ward in Malabar hill said that in Nana Chowk, Bhulabhai Desai Road, Nepeansea Road, Slater Road and at the Cadbury junction, pumps had been removed, leading to considerable waterlogging. “Of eight pumps in our ward, six were withdrawn. No city drains can take rainfall of over 200mm,” he said.

Former BJP corporator Makarand Narwekar said Monday’s heavy rain had exposed the BMC’s inadequate nallah cleaning, leading to flooding in Colaba for the first time since the 2005. “Areas like Somani Marg and the lane near Blue Bird Hotel, which have never flooded in recent years, were waterlogged today. This reflects deep-rooted civic mismanagement.”

Krishna Pawle, deputy president of the Shiv Sena (UBT), Colaba, alleged a “major road scam” involving the civic authorities and contractors. “As local residents, we conducted site inspections and found that several road works, including desilting, remain incomplete. During road construction, cement and mud entered the drains and wasn’t cleaned properly.”

Pawle visited Windy Hall Lane near Colaba Post Office, where poor elevation and faulty slope design of a newly concretised road led to flooding in homes and shops.