UAE residents worry for relatives in Mumbai as rains wreak havoc

Dubai - Mumbai received the heaviest rain over a 24-hour period since the 2005 deluge.

With reports of people losing their lives due to torrential rains that pounded Mumbai and its surrounding areas overnight, Indian expats in the UAE who either have friends, family and property back home in the business capital of India said they were worried about the safety of their loved ones back home.
Dubai resident K Venkatraman, who has his family home in Chembur said he received a call from his brother on Tuesday morning, informing him that there ground floor was inundated due to heavy rains. " Basically the low lying areas have been affected due to the incessant rain for six hours last night (Monday night) and also due to the high tide. My brother's family and my aged father stay in our house in Chembur. So my main worry is my 90-year-old father who cannot climb stairs and we shifted him to a neighbours house, whose house is located at a slightly raised platform.
Talking about the current situation, Venkatraman said his brother and family had moved to their one room that is on the first floor. "Although we shifted our father to a neighbour's house, my brother and his family are staying in the same house on the upper floor that has just one room. My brother tried to salvage as much stuff kept on our ground floor as he could but the damage to all the furniture on the ground floor is already done. My sister and other relatives who live in Goregaon and other nearby areas are taking care of the food supplies of my family"
Venkatraman said these annual rains wreak havoc yearly and the government gives the affected families a small compensation for the damaged property. My brother is being assisted by the authorities to pump water out of our house and I am also looking to go to Mumbai to help him and also be with my father but none of the flights are going to Mumbai as the Mumbai airport main runway is closed. I'll wait to see when is the earliest flight I get."
Another Dubai resident Fahmida Rafi said her brother Mohammed Farid, who is a resident of Andheri East, was also stuck with his family of four in their apartment building as water has reached the first floor of their building. " I spoke to my brother this morning and although he stays in a seven-floor building, he said the water level has come up to the first floor of his building and has thrown the elevator out of gear. Some of the lower floors have also plunged in darkness as their power was cut. Luckily my brother's apartment still has electricity but I am worried as they are unable to get out of their building. Thankfully since the rain has slowed down and also stopped this morning, the water has gone down a bit but they are still stranded in their building."
Mumbai received the heaviest rain over a 24-hour period since the 2005 deluge. The weather office has sounded a red alert for Mumbai today, warning of more rain. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis was seen monitoring the situation from the Mumbai civic body's control room.
The Indian Navy has also deployed several teams to assist the civic body to help people stranded in flooded areas. Several suburban and long-distance trains have been cancelled after railway tracks were flooded, also flights have been cancelled and diverted because of bad weather and the skidding of a SpiceJet plane last night while landing in rain forced a shutdown of the main runway at the airport.
- saman@khaleejtimes.com
 

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