Rutuj Mahendra Salunke is a master’s graduate in Disaster Management from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS). With a deep understanding of disaster risk reduction and resilience, Rutuj brings significant field experience from both urban and rural settings. He currently works as an assistant editor for the Known Disasters Magazine, contributing his expertise in content creation, editing, and disaster-related journalism.
In this article, we will explore the challenges of urban flooding in Mumbai, particularly highlighted by the events of 2024, and examine potential solutions to improve flood management. We will discuss the role of citizen science, crowdsourced data, and advanced technology in enhancing real-time flood monitoring and mitigation. Additionally, we will highlight the importance of integrating these modern approaches with traditional infrastructure to create more resilient systems, ensuring Mumbai is better prepared to face future floods in the wake of climate change.
Urban Flooding in Mumbai: Lessons from 2024
Mumbai, one of the largest and most densely populated cities in India, has long been susceptible to urban flooding due to a combination of intense monsoon rains, inadequate drainage systems, and rising sea levels. In 2024, the city once again experienced severe flooding, bringing to the forefront the urgent need for more effective and accessible flood monitoring and mitigation strategies. Despite efforts by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), gaps remain in creating a robust and citizen-friendly early warning system. This article delves into the challenges Mumbai faces in managing floods and explores potential solutions using crowdsourced data and citizen science.
Every Monsoon, Mumbai braces itself for floods, a recurring event that has plagued the city for decades. While the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has implemented several measures that have reduced flooding in certain areas, the problem still persists. Why?
Mumbai’s vulnerability to floods stems from a combination of geographical, infrastructural, and climatic factors. Built on a collection of seven islands, the city’s reclamation projects have created low-lying coastal tracts. Many of these areas sit just 1 meter above sea level or even below the high tide level, making them particularly prone to flooding. This, combined with outdated drainage systems and increasing climate variability, sets the stage for the city’s annual struggle with monsoon floods.
Why Does It Flood in Mumbai?
The answer is multifaceted. According to the Flood Preparedness Guidelines 2023, three primary factors contribute to flooding in the city:
1. Localized flooding due to inadequate drainage systems.
2. Overflow from the Mithi River, especially during heavy rains.
3. A combination of high tides and high river flows, which exacerbate flooding in coastal areas.
Mumbai’s drainage system, designed decades ago, is no longer equipped to handle the intensity and frequency of modern rainfall patterns. Originally constructed to manage 25 mm of rainfall per hour, the system is overwhelmed during heavy downpours. An official from BMC’s Storm Water Drains (SWD) Department explained that while the drains are designed for moderate rainfall spread over time, the city now often experiences intense rainfall over short periods, leaving the system unable to cope with the water volume.
The Role of Citizen Science in Urban Flood Management
Citizen science plays a critical role in enhancing urban flood management by empowering local communities to actively contribute to real-time monitoring and data collection. In densely populated cities like Mumbai, where traditional flood forecasting systems often face limitations, citizen science offers a practical and scalable solution. Citizens, through the use of mobile phones, social media platforms, and other accessible technologies, can report on-the-ground conditions such as water levels, flood locations, and blocked drains. This crowdsourced information can fill crucial gaps in official data and provide authorities with valuable insights into how floods are impacting specific areas in real time.
One of the major advantages of integrating citizen science into urban flood management is its ability to generate hyper-localized data. In many cases, official systems struggle to capture flooding at a street or neighbourhood level, but citizens can provide granular details from their immediate surroundings. For example, platforms like Twitter have been effectively used to gather reports of waterlogging and floods in Mumbai, enabling authorities to respond more rapidly to emerging issues. When combined with other technologies such as geographic information systems (GIS) and satellite data, this citizen-generated information can significantly enhance the accuracy of flood monitoring and forecasting.
Moreover, citizen science fosters a sense of ownership and community engagement in managing urban floods. When residents are involved in the data collection process, they become more aware of flood risks and proactive in mitigating them. Programs that train volunteers to act as live sensors, as seen in some parts of Mumbai, have not only improved the quality of flood-related data but also created a more informed public. These volunteers, equipped with mobile apps and tools like WhatsApp or Google forms, provide real-time updates on flood-prone areas, helping local authorities prioritize their responses.
Beyond real-time monitoring, citizen science can also contribute to long-term flood resilience planning. Crowdsourced data helps identify chronic flood hotspots and evaluate the effectiveness of mitigation measures over time. By analyzing trends in waterlogging reports and comparing them with rainfall patterns, decision-makers can adjust strategies to better protect vulnerable areas. This data-driven approach supports more efficient resource allocation and infrastructure investments, ultimately leading to more resilient urban environments.
Incorporating citizen science into urban flood management thus holds tremendous potential for improving preparedness and response in cities like Mumbai. As climate change continues to increase the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, leveraging the collective knowledge and experience of citizens will be essential for building adaptive, community-centered flood management systems.
However, the reliance on citizen science and social media for real-time flood monitoring highlights a key gap: Mumbai still lacks a dependable, end-to-end flood forecasting and early warning system. While BMC’s efforts have led to reduced flooding in certain areas, the absence of a comprehensive, citizen-accessible system limits the city’s ability to plan for and respond to floods effectively.
The Future of Flood Forecasting: Citizen Science as a Solution
As climate change intensifies the frequency, duration, and severity of extreme weather events, innovative approaches to disaster risk reduction will become increasingly important. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report emphasizes the need for community-based solutions in urban areas. The integration of crowdsourced data, as demonstrated in this study, shows significant promise in contributing to modern decision-making systems for urban flooding.
By leveraging advanced techniques such as sentiment analysis and natural language processing, crowdsourced data can be harnessed more effectively to generate reliable early warning systems. When citizens see their contributions being used to save lives, their involvement is likely to increase, further enhancing the accuracy and usefulness of the data.
Lessons from 2024: Mitigation Strategies in Action
The floods of 2024 have provided a critical learning opportunity, shedding light on both the successes and shortcomings of Mumbai’s flood mitigation strategies. One of the most significant lessons from recent years is the observable decline in waterlogging reports, particularly between 2020 and 2022, despite sustained and sometimes intense rainfall. This trend suggests that the city’s proactive flood management measures have been partially successful. The decrease in reported flood incidents was further validated through systematic surveys conducted at various known flood hotspots. Local authorities confirmed the effectiveness of many of the implemented measures, reinforcing the idea that while challenges remain, progress has certainly been made.
One of the key strategies contributing to these successes has been the installation of advanced pumping systems in flood-prone areas. Public used to witness severe flooding on street, improvements such as water pumps have made a tangible difference. The experience of floods diminishing in frequency, except during particularly heavy rains, echoes the broader findings of reduced waterlogging in many other areas of Mumbai. This improvement can be attributed to a more comprehensive approach to managing stormwater, which includes clearing drainage systems and maintaining pumping stations.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) deserves recognition for its proactive flood management efforts, which have greatly reduced the loss of life and damage to property in recent years. The BMC’s focus on addressing waterlogging hotspots, reducing them from 440 to 84 over time, is commendable and indicates that their strategies are working in many parts of the city. These efforts have also included the expansion and maintenance of stormwater drainage networks, which are essential for preventing the rapid accumulation of water during heavy rainfall events.
Despite these strides in flood mitigation, one of the most critical gaps still remains: the lack of an end-to-end, real-time flood forecasting system that is easily accessible to the public. While BMC’s efforts in reducing waterlogging have shown progress, the absence of an integrated early warning system severely limits Mumbai’s ability to respond to sudden, extreme weather events. The 2024 floods have made it clear that without a comprehensive, real-time monitoring system, both authorities and citizens are left at a disadvantage when it comes to planning for and responding to floods.
Looking forward, the lessons from 2024 underline the need for continued investment in flood management systems that are dynamic, data-driven, and accessible to the public. The integration of technology, citizen science, and real-time data will be key in ensuring that Mumbai becomes more resilient to future floods, especially in the face of climate change, which is expected to increase the frequency and intensity of extreme rainfall events. A modern flood forecasting system, built on these principles, could significantly reduce the impact of future floods on one of the world’s most densely populated cities.
What Lies Ahead?
The future of flood management in Mumbai lies in integrating traditional mitigation measures with advanced technological solutions. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report emphasizes the importance of community-based solutions in disaster risk reduction. Crowdsourced data, as explored in this study, offers a promising way to fill the gaps in real-time flood monitoring.
In the coming years, leveraging data from platforms like Twitter and VGI can help authorities develop street-level flood forecasting systems. By combining this data with numerical and physics-based models, Mumbai could create a modern decision system that allows for more precise and effective flood responses. As the city continues to face the challenges posed by climate change, such systems will become increasingly crucial. The events of 2024 serve as a stark reminder of Mumbai’s vulnerability to urban flooding, yet they also highlight the potential for transformative solutions. The integration of citizen science, crowdsourcing, and advanced technology presents a promising pathway toward more efficient flood management. While mitigation strategies have led to significant improvements, such as a reduction in waterlogging hotspots and minimized losses, critical gaps remain—particularly the need for a real-time, end-to-end flood forecasting system accessible to the public. By harnessing the power of crowdsourced data and combining it with cutting-edge technology like numerical modeling, Mumbai can develop more resilient flood management systems. The use of platforms such as Twitter and Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI) has already proven effective in identifying flood-prone areas, providing granular, real-time data to inform decision-making. With continued investment in both traditional infrastructure and technological innovation, the city can minimize the impacts of future floods, transforming crowdsourced data into life-saving early warnings, and ensuring that urban areas are better prepared to face the growing challenges posed by climate change.
