[Gulf Goans] Capsized ! Now, the deluge. For the Mumbaikar, another battle

Sun, 31 Jul 2005 09:48:49 -0700

AP
MUMBAI
Capsized!
Now, the deluge. For the Mumbaikar, another battle. Updates
SMRUTI KOPPIKAR
Mumbai, the city strung together from seven islands, found itself marooned last Tuesday, July 26. Large parts of India's commercial capital bobbed up like flotsam, facing the fury of the dark skies. For 48 hours, the city lived out its worst nightmare ever. By the end of it, the ever-resilient Mumbaikars had added new survival skills to their enviable repertoire. As always, the story of marooned Mumbai was that of its people. Even as close to 300 lay dead, and millions barely kept body and bone together.

Ten schoolchildren died in a wall collapse, thousands of scared kids spent the night of July 26 in their classrooms.
A commuter city, laid low early evening, spells disaster. Trains were off for 24 hours.
More than 40 people were killed in a landslide at Saki Naka, hundreds of others were simply washed away elsewhere, unable to withstand the swirling waters. Hundreds were marooned in buildings, those in Kalina-Kurla airport colony requiring water rafts and
army help to reach safety.

There were lakhs stranded at suburban rail stations, millions on roads across the city's length. A lucky few hitched rides home, convincing even tow-truck drivers. When all else failed, the brave among them decided to walk the many miles. Others waited it out in empty halls. Here too, water levels were a good two feet or a bad six feet.

A commuter city, laid low early evening, spells disaster. Suburban trains that carry nearly seven million a day suspended their services for 24 hours. More than 70 kilometres of track suddenly disappeared under water. The heart-warming red BEST buses ploughed on as best as they could—only ten per cent of the 3,200 buses had returned to base depots till Wednesday (July 27) noon. Roads, alleys, lanes, flyovers, everything was under water. Small cars sputtered to a stop when the water rose to four feet, jeeps and SUVs gamely ploughed on. Mumbai's infamous traffic didn't even crawl. It just stopped, snake-like lines till the eye could see. Actor Aamir Khan, stuck in traffic, was sighted signing autographs. Some enthusiasts gamely formed antakshari groups. When water levels climbed, people in cars and BEST buses clambered atop and did the only thing they could—pray.

Many spent all of Tuesday night this way, soaked to their bones. Mumbai's multiple-choice, nanosecond communication was gone, replaced by dead lines or network congestion. The power blinked off. City airports, which on a normal day handle a landing or take-off every three minutes, were closed for 48 hours. India Inc was laid low too, the bse closed, so did banks. The state administration declared an unprecedented two-day holiday. Losses are still being estimated; prima facie figures: Rs 1,500-1,800 crore.

Police teams, fire brigade personnel, with a lot of help from the aam janta, did rescue-and-relief operations as they could. Thousands provided immediate succour, supplying chai. Through it all, information flowed in a trickle. Only a few in the south Mumbai high-rises wondered what all the fuss was about, their zone was somehow spared.

Elsewhere in Maharashtra, mainly along the salubrious Konkan coast, rain wreaked havoc. Villages in Raigad were completely cut off from civilisation. Well over 200 people were declared dead. The total death toll in Maharashtra is inching towards 550. The Mumbai-Pune Expressway and Konkan Railway were closed for traffic. Nature's fury, many a Mumbaikar thought, was understandable. What was unforgivable was the complete collapse of the six-year-old World Bank-funded disaster management plan. dmp officials were scurrying around for emergency army and air force phone numbers!

They say everyone in Mumbai has a survival story, now each of us has a July flood story too, some tragic, some funny, some heart-warming. Should we care that Mumbai has beaten Cherrapunjee to set a new record for the highest rainfall this season, 94 cms, in 24 hours? For those two days, only personal records mattered.Dreams of an international Shanghai-like city found a quiet, wet burial.

 

(OUTLOOK INDIA)



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