June 25 and July 24 will be two crucial days this monsoon, as the city will witness high tides of almost 5 metres, putting the entire BMC machinery on high alert.
On June 25 and July 24, there will high tides of 4.97 metres and 4.95 metres respectively. In fact, the spell between June 23-28 and July 22-26 will be crucial, as there will be successive high tides on these days. There is also a possibility of high rainfall during this period.
Municipal commissioner Sitaram Kunte said, “Any tide more than 4.5 metre is considered as a high tide. If heavy rainfall of more than 65 mm in a day coincides with these high tides, there is a possibility of water logging in low-lying areas. Hence, we have asked all the concerned agencies to be on alert on these days.”
In 2009, the city had seen the highest tides of last 100 years, as tides more than five metres high had ravaged the city shores on July 23 and 24.
The BMC administration claimed that it is fully geared to tackle the monsoon with a series of pre-monsoon measures. “We have tried our best to ensure that Mumbaikars face minimum inconvenience during the monsoon. Various measures have been taken to mitigate the monsoon problems,” said Mr Kunte.
Civic officials said that over 74 per cent nullah cleaning work and 60 per cent of Mithi river desilting had already been completed in the city.
According to the civic officials, nine teams of Navy will be kept ready at their five base camps in the city — Colaba, Worli, Ghatkopar, Mankhurd and Malad. In addition to this, 42 lifeguards and 46 kolis will be deployed on six city beaches at Girgaum, Shivaji Park, Juhu, Versova, Aksa and Gorai. Also, six additional flood rescue teams of Mumbai Fire Brigade and 300 volunteers of NSS will be made available on beaches on holidays, high tides and heavy rainfall days.