Mumbai rain woes: Printers face loss due to waterlogging

India Meteorological Department’s (IMD) Santacruz observatory recorded 375.2 mm of rains in the 24 hours, ending 8.30 am on Tuesday. In the 2005 deluge, Mumbai received 944.2mm rain, one of the worst in the history of Mumbai.

Two sections of a BMC-built retaining wall came crashing down a slope in Malad East, killing 22 people, including ten children and swept away dozens of shanties on Tuesday. The National Disaster Relief Force and fire department personnel rescued around 100 people stuck in the debris. Meanwhile, two men suffocated to death after getting locked inside their SUV that was inundated under several feet of water in Malad subway.

Tragedy struck Thane when two employees of a Mira Road restaurant were electrocuted after flood water entered the hotel. Three others were killed as a wall adjoining a school in Kalyan collapsed, killing three, including two women and a 3-year-old.

Some printers also reported losses due to waterlogging at their production units.

Jitesh Kapadia of Tej Shine, Goregaon, said, “Over one lakh papers, including art and craft papers, were damaged due to waterlogging at our facility. Some of our coating and laminating machines were also damaged. This has resulted in an estimated loss of Rs 9-10 lakh.”

Harish Nathubai Patel of Jai Ambe Packaging, Mira Road, said, “Our printing machines were damaged and some of the corrugated rolls and craft papers were destroyed due to waterlogging at our printing units. A generator was also damaged. We have faced a loss of around Rs 20-25 lakhs. We couldn’t do anything because the floodwaters entered the unit at around 2.30 am on Monday. None of our employees were present at that time.”

He said that it would take a few more days to bring his business back to normal.

However, Hiren Karia, Hon. Secretary of FPTA, said, “We have not heard of any damages to paper stocks from any of our merchants. The only loss they faced was the loss of two working days, where their businesses could not be carried out due to waterlogging and less staff.”

Other parts of Mumbai were equally reeling under threat as incessant downpour caused road cave-ins and flooding at different parts of the city. Transportation was affected, too, but the Western Railway managed to keep Mumbai’s ‘lifeline’ going.

Several flights were cancelled and some were diverted, leaving thousands of passengers stranded across India for over 24 hours on Tuesday. However, the early announcement of public holiday managed to help the situation from getting out of control. Some rotary clubs and NGOs took it to social media providing phone numbers and addresses for those stranded in the rains.