Watch: How Mumbai citizens deal with flooding year after year

When Surekha Chiplunkar’s home started to flood during recent heavy rains in Mumbai she knew exactly what to do – the same thing she does almost every monsoon season.

“We grab all of our possessions and move to one of our neighbours on a higher floor until the water subsides,” explains the 60-year-old, who says last week’s inundations came up to her waist.

Her family’s tiny ground floor apartment in central Mumbai is one of hundreds of thousands of homes in India’s financial capital that regularly flood during the monsoon months of June to September.

In contrast to flooding disasters in the West, residents here are largely left to fend for themselves, receiving little to no practical or financial help from authorities.

Last week, as floods wreaked death and destruction across Houston, Texas, more than ten people died in Mumbai after torrential rains lashed the coastal city of over 20 million people.

Tuesday’s rainfall coincided with high tide but activists insist rampant unplanned development and poor drainage played a part in the flooding which shut down the city for almost two days.

Chiplunkar says it was one of the worst since 2005 when around 950 millimetres (37 inches) of rain fell on Mumbai in just 24 hours, killing more than 500 people.

“I’ve lived her for 40 years and it floods almost every monsoon but the water level this year was very high,” Chiplunkar said, pointing to a mark on the wall just above her waist where she says it reached.

‘Financial loss’ 

Many of the homes that flood in Mumbai are shanties packed tightly into narrow dark alleyways which line the city’s sprawling slums.

The slums, where over 50 percent of its population live, become covered in a sea of blue tarpaulin every monsoon as residents bravely try to keep out whatever rain they can.

But sturdily-built houses flood as well. Chiplunkar, her three sons, one daughter-in-law and two grandchildren, live in a basic flat built in an old chawl, or tenement, which used to house Mumbai’s mill workers.

“We prepare for every monsoon by packing our belongings in plastic covers and keeping buckets ready,” Aditya Jadhav, who lives in the one-room apartment opposite, said.

The speed with which the rain fell – more than 315 millimetres in just a few hours – caught both families by surprise this year though.

“We were shocked. A lot of our valuables were damaged this including a refrigerator and washing machine, causing us a lot of financial loss,” says Chiplunkar.

When the flooding occurs residents rely on the support of each other.

“People from top floors provide us with food during flooding as we cannot cook for ourselves,” Chiplunkar explains.

“No one from the government comes to check to see if we have managed to survive the floods or not,” she adds.

The help provided by members of the community during a disaster is often referred to, usually by local newspapers and leaders, as the “spirit of Mumbai”.

The term was widely in use again during the recent flooding but many took to social media to accuse politicians of using it as a way of absolving themselves from responsibility.

“Political leaders need to realise we have no other option and not everyone is capable of dealing with disasters,” says Jadhav.

British-era drains

Activists claim Mumbai’s susceptibility to floods has worsened in recent years due to a rapid construction boom that is trying to keep up with the city’s swelling population.

They blame many in power and property developers for an insatiable desire to make money from luxury residential tower developments built on reclaimed land.

An estimated 40 percent of Mumbai’s mangrove cover, which is extremely effective in helping to drain water, has been destroyed over the past decade to make way for glitzy high-rises.

“Mumbai’s estuaries have been tampered with and there is no space for water to flow out,” Stalin D, a director of the environmental non-profit organisation Vanashakti, told AFP.

Mumbai’s drainage system was built by the British in the 1860s when the population was a tenth of what it is now. Many drains are full of rubbish and desilting operations are often inadequate, according to urban activists.

While Chiplunkar and her neighbours are used to fleeing the floods at short notice, there’s one aspect they can never get used to – cleaning up on their return.

“All of us fall sick as the water is very dirty and sometimes we find dead rats in it. The children are particularly prone to getting diseases,” she says.