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Maharashtra : Heaviest rainfall of the century disrupts life in Mumbai |
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Mumbai had the highest rainfall ever recorded in the country last week on Tuesday, July 26, when over 94 cms of rain fell during a twenty-four period. The previous highest rainfall recorded was at Cherapunji, in Meghalaya, in 1910 when about 81 cms of rain was recorded. The deluge disrupted Mumbai life and cut off all communication links including rail, road and air. It also disrupted telecommunication services including cellular phone links. Many parts of the city were under three to four feet of water and the basements and ground floors of many buildings were inundated, forcing the residents to shift to the higher floors. In many areas they had no access to drinking water and eatables. About a 1000 people are reported to have died in he massive floods in Mumbai and several other parts of Maharashtra.
The tragedy was compounded by the fire in an ONGC oil drilling platform in the Mumbai High field area on Wednesday, July 27. About 400 people were on board the platform which was gutted in the massive fire that also destroyed a multipurpose support vessel. Luckily, most of the people who had jumped into the sea were rescued by the Coast Guard and Navy ships. But more than 10 people were killed in the fire and an equal number are still missing.
The economic losses are immense as nearly 15 per cent of India’s total daily crude oil output of around 660,000 barrels per day was out of production. The destroyed platform produced between 80,000 barrels and 100,000 barrels of oil per day and accounts for over a third of the total oil production of ONGC from the Bombay High field. It will take several months to restore production from this site.
Initially, relief and rescue operations were severely hampered due to the weather conditions onshore in Mumbai and the incessant rain. ONGC’s entire Pawan Hans helicopter fleet remained grounded. A few helicopters that were already offshore arrived at the scene first. Navy and Coast Guard aircraft followed soon after.
Rumours lead to stampede : 15 people die
Anti-social elements spread rumours in Mumbai that the city is going to face a Tsunami on Thursday, July 28. It resulted in people living in slums in the Juhu area fleeing from their homes and in the ensuing stampede, more than 15 persons lost their lives. Several others were seriously injured. Police later started a crack down on rumour-mongers and arrested about 20 people. The police has now appealed to the people not to believe in rumours.
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