The Onset of Monsoon Fury – Yellow Alert & High Tide Warning
As June 2025 unfolds, Mumbai finds itself once again grappling with the wrath of the monsoon. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued a yellow alert for the city, warning of moderate to heavy rainfall over the coming days. Accompanying this is a high tide warning, threatening low-lying areas with possible flooding and disruptions. For a city that lives on the edge of the Arabian Sea, these alerts carry serious weight.
The warnings issued aren’t merely seasonal formality—they represent a growing concern amid rising instances of climate unpredictability, urban strain, and overwhelmed infrastructure. In this multi-part report, we will explore the scientific, civic, and human dimensions of Mumbai’s weather alert system, the city’s response capacity, and how its 20-million-strong population navigates the fury of monsoon year after year.
Understanding the Yellow Alert
The IMD’s yellow alert, issued on June 22, 2025, indicates a forecast of “moderate rain with isolated heavy spells,” especially in coastal regions. This warning is part of a color-coded system—Yellow, Orange, and Red—that signals increasing levels of severity.
Yellow alerts generally mean:
- Residents should be aware of weather conditions.
- Authorities must remain prepared for emergency response.
- Low-lying areas may experience localized flooding.
- High tides combined with rainfall could disrupt drainage systems.
According to the IMD, Mumbai is expected to receive between 64.5 mm to 115.5 mm of rainfall over a 24-hour period. But when combined with rising sea levels during high tides, the real threat isn’t just water—it’s water with nowhere to go.
The High Tide Factor
On the same day, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) flagged the possibility of a 4.42-meter high tide, expected to occur around 1:25 PM. This tide, if accompanied by heavy rain, could inundate chronic waterlogging zones such as:
- Hindmata
- Sion Circle
- King’s Circle
- Milan Subway
- Dadar TT
A high tide of this magnitude puts pressure on Mumbai’s stormwater drains, which already function at limited efficiency. Once the tide exceeds 4.5 meters, water discharge into the sea is no longer viable, which means that floodwaters back up into city streets, railway tracks, and residential colonies.
The Monsoon Pattern This Year
According to data from the Regional Meteorological Centre, the southwest monsoon hit Mumbai around June 10, slightly ahead of its typical schedule. Since then, the city has recorded over 185 mm of rainfall, but patterns have been increasingly erratic—sudden cloudbursts followed by long dry spells.
Key indicators for 2025’s monsoon include:
- A stronger-than-normal low-pressure system over the Arabian Sea
- Warming of the Bay of Bengal
- Persistent western disturbances interacting with local humidity
The IMD’s extended forecast indicates that the intensity is expected to increase in the next 5-7 days, with Orange alerts potentially being declared for interior Maharashtra and adjoining districts like Thane, Palghar, and Raigad.
How Mumbai Prepares for Alerts
In response to the alerts, Mumbai’s disaster management mechanisms swing into motion:
- The BMC control room is put on 24×7 alert.
- Pumping stations in areas like Mahim, Love Grove, and Haji Ali are activated.
- Rescue boats and inflatable rafts are deployed near slum areas and riverside chawls.
- The Mumbai Fire Brigade, NDRF, and Mumbai Police begin coordinating routes for potential evacuations.
Simultaneously, authorities issue advisories asking residents to:
- Avoid seafront promenades like Marine Drive, Juhu, and Worli.
- Refrain from commuting during peak waterlogging hours.
- Stock essential supplies, especially in low-lying zones.
Despite these measures, each year brings the same question: Is the city truly prepared?
Monsoon Memories – A Recurrent Nightmare
Ask any Mumbaikar, and they’ll recall the dates:
- July 26, 2005: A record-breaking 944 mm rainfall in 24 hours—claiming 500+ lives.
- August 29, 2017: Another deluge that brought Mumbai to a standstill.
- July 2023: Waterlogging in over 200 areas within 12 hours of rainfall.
The common thread in all these events is this: Mumbai gets alerts, but its infrastructure responds too slowly. The yellow alert in 2025 may be the first signal, but it is the second, third, and fourth responses that determine whether this city sinks or swims.
The Broader Climate Context
Meteorologists have increasingly warned about the intensifying monsoon cycle. With Mumbai being one of the most climate-vulnerable megacities globally, alerts like the current one are not anomalies—they’re harbingers of a changing norm.
The city is dealing with:
- Rising sea levels—estimated at 2.8 mm per year.
- Vanishing mangroves, which once served as natural flood buffers.
- Concrete over natural drainage zones, accelerating run-off and stagnation.
- Encroachments on rivers like Mithi, which once absorbed overflow but are now sludge-filled channels.
Bracing for the Week Ahead
As Mumbai begins another wet week under the shadow of weather alerts and high tide warnings, its people prepare with a mixture of resignation and resilience. Raincoats and umbrellas are out, WhatsApp groups buzz with flood updates, and news tickers flash hourly warnings. For the city that never sleeps, the rain may slow it down—but it rarely stops it.
The City’s Struggle – Waterlogging, Transport Chaos & Civil Response
Introduction: When Warnings Turn Into Reality
As predicted by the IMD, Mumbai was struck by relentless rain within 48 hours of the yellow alert, bringing daily life to a near standstill. More than 110 mm of rain fell overnight in parts of South Mumbai and the western suburbs, triggering widespread waterlogging, local train disruptions, and arterial road closures. This second part of our report investigates how the city responded in real time, who bore the brunt of the chaos, and what it revealed about the state of urban readiness, public infrastructure, and institutional response.
Waterlogged Mumbai – The First Impact Zones
By the morning of June 24, low-lying areas were submerged under nearly two feet of water. The first reported flooding came from:
- Hindmata Junction (Parel-Dadar)
- Sion Circle (Central Mumbai)
- King’s Circle (Matunga)
- Andheri Subway
- Kurla LBS Road
- Chinchpokli, Byculla & Grant Road
These areas have historically faced inundation, yet continue to lack adequate stormwater drainage or contour correction. By 10:30 AM, visuals of submerged vehicles, stranded citizens, and waist-deep water on roads began to dominate news screens and social media feeds.
The BMC’s flood alert system, which sends real-time data from 300+ sensors installed across Mumbai, began reporting “severe waterlogging levels” by mid-morning.
Disruption of Local Transport – Lifelines Cut
Mumbai’s public transport system—especially its local trains—is often called its lifeline, carrying over 7.5 million commuters daily. But as rainwater pooled on the tracks, several services had to be either cancelled or delayed.
Key disruptions included:
- Central Railway services suspended between Kurla and CST for over 4 hours.
- Western Railway delays between Churchgate and Andheri.
- Harbour line trains running on emergency protocol with speed restrictions.
The BEST buses, which tried to operate on diverted routes, faced vehicle breakdowns in flooded areas. Ride-hailing services like Uber and Ola saw 3x fare surges, with many drivers refusing pickups in red zones.
The Human Toll – Commuters, Workers, and the Urban Poor
For Mumbaikars, a yellow alert doesn’t just mean rain—it means missed wages, delayed ambulances, cancelled exams, and increased vulnerability.
On June 24:
- Over 2,300 schools and colleges were shut.
- A BMC nurse on emergency duty was stranded near Dadar and had to wade through floodwater to reach her hospital.
- Daily wage laborers, especially construction workers and roadside vendors, lost income due to transport collapse and water stagnation.
- Informal settlements near Mithi River and Vakola Nalla faced waist-high water inside homes.
Many of Mumbai’s slums are located along nullahs (stormwater drains), which overflow during high tides, pushing sewage and floodwater into homes. Local NGOs reported over 500 calls for food, dry clothes, and first aid within 12 hours of flooding.
The Role of Civic Bodies – Response vs Reality
While the BMC had initiated pre-monsoon desilting operations, several of Mumbai’s drains remained clogged or half-functional. Civic officials claimed over 92% desilting completion, but actual ground reports painted a starkly different picture.
Major concerns that emerged:
- Inoperational pumping stations in key spots like Milan Subway during peak flooding.
- Delayed deployment of dewatering pumps in Andheri and Bandra East.
- Absence of NDRF teams in densely populated areas until water had risen above safety thresholds.
In response to public anger, BMC Chief Iqbal Singh Chahal addressed the media, claiming that the system “held up well under extreme pressure,” but also admitted that unauthorized constructions and narrow drain designs contributed to the crisis.
Digital Outrage – The Twitter and WhatsApp Storm
As physical mobility stalled, digital communication became the venting ground. Hashtags like #MumbaiRains, #BMCFail, and #WaterloggedMumbai trended throughout the day. Citizens posted videos of cars floating on roads, railway stations turned into ponds, and schoolchildren stranded in buses.
Citizen groups used WhatsApp and Telegram to:
- Share live updates on water levels in localities
- Request food and medical assistance
- Coordinate alternate routes using GPS and Google Maps
- Report clogged drains and unattended areas to civic helplines
The BMC also launched its emergency dashboard, but many users complained about server crashes and non-updated rainfall maps.
Media Coverage – From Studio to Street
News channels like ABP Majha, TV9 Marathi, Mirror Now, and NDTV ran non-stop coverage on the flooding crisis. While some media outlets praised the city’s spirit and administration’s preparedness, others showed:
- Disconnected political leaders giving generic weather soundbites
- On-ground reporters wading through thigh-deep water to bring real-time visuals
- Ward-level lapses, including uncovered manholes and failed barricading in flood zones
By evening, even national newspapers like Indian Express, Hindustan Times, and The Hindu published editorials questioning Mumbai’s annual monsoon breakdown.
Rescue & Relief Efforts – What Worked, What Didn’t
Despite administrative flaws, several civil society groups stepped in:
- The Robin Hood Army distributed 1,500+ food packets in Kurla, Dharavi, and Malad.
- Ghatkopar-based volunteer networks arranged boats to evacuate the elderly from flooded chawls.
- Mumbai Fire Brigade, despite waterlogged roads, responded to over 60 emergency calls, including elevator rescues and short-circuit incidents.
Key success areas:
- Real-time crowdsource updates prevented deaths due to open manholes.
- Proactive school principals sending early closure messages saved children from being stuck.
- Mumbai Police’s social media team offered route help and debunked flood-related fake news.
A Glimpse of Collapse—and Resilience
Part 2 of this unfolding crisis reveals Mumbai’s dual reality. On one hand, the city continues to crack under the weight of its own disorganized growth—poor drainage, chaotic urban planning, fragile infrastructure. On the other, the human spirit of its citizens—volunteers, doctors, train guards, and neighbours—proves to be the city’s strongest coping mechanism.
While the rain grabs headlines and flooding evokes outrage, the real crisis in Mumbai lies underground—in its ageing, inadequate, and mismanaged drainage infrastructure. Despite being one of the world’s largest megacities and financial capitals, Mumbai still relies on a drainage blueprint designed over 100 years ago during the British era. This part of our in-depth report examines why, despite repeated floods, Mumbai continues to drown in the same places, year after year.
A Century-Old Legacy – The 1860s Drainage System
The core of Mumbai’s drainage system was laid out in the 1860s by the British, based on rainfall records of around 25 mm/hour. At the time, the population of Bombay was under 1 million. Today, the city hosts over 20 million residents, yet its stormwater infrastructure remains largely unchanged in core areas.
Key features of this outdated system:
- 2,000+ km of open drains, many of which are now concretised or encroached.
- Underground stormwater drains built to handle 25 mm of rainfall/hour—while current rainfall intensity often exceeds 60–80 mm/hour.
- Lack of separate lines for sewage and stormwater, leading to overflow contamination.
The inadequacy is systemic. According to a 2024 report by the Central Water Commission, over 60% of Mumbai’s drains are under-capacity.
The BRIMSTOWAD Project – A Promise Never Fulfilled
In 1993, after the devastating floods of the late 1980s and early 1990s, the BMC launched the BRIMSTOWAD project (Brihanmumbai Storm Water Drainage System). The project was meant to:
- Redesign and enlarge major drains.
- Construct holding ponds for excess water.
- Install high-capacity pumping stations.
- Clear and rehabilitate natural water bodies like rivers and nullahs.
Yet, three decades later:
- Less than 40% of the project has been completed.
- Multiple deadlines (2005, 2011, 2016, 2021) have been missed.
- Cost escalations from ₹600 crore to over ₹5,000 crore have stalled progress.
- Lack of inter-agency coordination—between BMC, MMRDA, MHADA, and state PWD—has created jurisdictional deadlocks.
In short, BRIMSTOWAD remains an expensive abbreviation, not a functioning solution.
The Vanishing Natural Drainage – Rivers, Nullahs, and Mangroves
Historically, Mumbai had 4 natural rivers (Mithi, Oshiwara, Dahisar, and Poinsar), over 300 nullahs, and vast stretches of mangroves and salt pans that acted as natural flood buffers. Today:
- The Mithi River resembles a sewer channel, choked with plastic and industrial sludge.
- Encroachments and illegal slum expansion have narrowed the flow width by over 60%.
- Over 30% of Mumbai’s mangroves have vanished due to real estate and infrastructure projects.
Mangroves once soaked up excess rainfall, but now, water hits concrete and has nowhere to percolate or flow.
Environmentalists have repeatedly flagged this destruction. A 2023 PIL filed in the Bombay High Court revealed that over 45,000 mangrove trees were destroyed or illegally diverted for road, rail, and metro projects between 2015 and 2022.
The Pumping Station Illusion – Progress That Doesn’t Scale
Mumbai has 8 major pumping stations including those at Love Grove, Cleveland, Haji Ali, and Britannia. These stations were designed to:
- Suck out floodwater during high tides.
- Drain it into the sea when tide levels allow.
- Reduce localised waterlogging in chronic zones.
But during the June 2025 yellow alert event:
- The Britannia station malfunctioned for 4 hours due to debris choking the intake line.
- Love Grove couldn’t function at full capacity due to power fluctuation issues.
- Haji Ali’s discharge rate was reduced due to reverse water pressure from the high tide.
Moreover, these stations are only effective if:
- They are maintained regularly (they often aren’t).
- Desilting is thorough and timely (it usually isn’t).
- Tidal gates are closed precisely (which is inconsistently managed).
Encroachments & Unauthorized Development – Man-Made Bottlenecks
Several surveys by BMC’s Stormwater Department show that almost 45% of drains are partially or fully encroached, especially in:
- Dharavi
- Kurla
- Jogeshwari
- Govandi
- Wadala
Small businesses, informal housing, and even government infrastructure like BEST depots and Mhada colonies have been found built over or adjacent to critical nullahs. These structures block flow and create artificial bottlenecks.
The construction of elevated roads and metro pillars, without redesigning underlying drains, also chokes surface run-off, redirecting floodwater into already saturated pockets.
The Monsoon-Urbanisation Paradox
The real dilemma is this: every step forward in urbanization seems to push Mumbai two steps back in flood readiness.
- More roads → less ground absorption
- More buildings → higher run-off
- More population → increased sewage load in the same drain system
The push for smart infrastructure, including Mumbai Metro lines, the coastal road, and sea links, often ignores micro water pathways. Water, unlike traffic, doesn’t stop at a junction—it finds its own way, often into people’s homes and businesses.
This is why flooding now isn’t limited to just historic hot zones like Parel or Dadar—but is being reported from newer areas like BKC, Goregaon East, and even Navi Mumbai.
Accountability & Audits – Where Do We Go From Here?
Multiple audit reports—from the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) to independent civil engineering panels—have shown:
- Inaccurate desilting records
- Fake contractor bills
- Lack of geo-tagged drain clearance data
- Limited accountability for ward engineers
Despite budget allocations of ₹2,200 crore in 2025 for monsoon preparedness, there is little clarity on outcome metrics.
A 2022 white paper by IIT-Bombay’s Centre for Urban Science called for a “Drainage Governance Index”, which could:
- Map ward-wise drainage effectiveness
- Link monsoon outcomes to fund usage
- Penalize non-performing contractors and officials
Till date, no such model has been adopted.
A City That Learns Slowly—And Pays Dearly
Mumbai’s flooding isn’t a product of extreme weather alone—it is the natural consequence of decades of delayed investment, ignored environmental warnings, and half-executed infrastructure reforms.
The 2025 yellow alert was not an outlier—it was a predictable, preventable annual event. And unless there is systemic, transparent, and scientifically informed reform, the next alert—be it orange or red—will only bring more water, more chaos, and more loss.
The city’s resilience is legendary. But without infrastructure that respects its geography, resilience may
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