Fishing community seeks help from BMC as Mumbai witnesses incessant rainfall

With heavy rains lashing the city for the third consecutive day, the Koli fishing community in Mumbai has sought help from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) as rains threaten to flood their low-lying homes. This comes shortly after the BMC issued a warning asking people to stay away from the Colaba coast which is likely to witness choppy high tides. 

Amid the flooding-scare, the fishing community of the Colaba Koliwada revealed that while their business had been terribly affected due to COVID over the past two months, the onset of heavy rains had only added to their woes. 

"We have not been operating for the last two months because of the COVID-19 guidelines and our business has been terribly affected. That along with the heavy rains has made it really difficult," said Jayesh Bhoir, a fisherman who lives in the Colaba Koliwada to news agency ANI. 

"The government should at least take care of our community during natural calamities like these. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation hasn't yet cleaned the gutters and it usually happens before the monsoon season," he added. 

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'Rains likely to continue till Sunday-evening' 

Amid the incessant rainfall in Mumbai, Mahesh Palawat, Managing Director of Skymet, has said that the rainfall in Mumbai will continue for next five to six hours. He also advised citizens to stay at home for 24 hours whenever there is an alert from the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) or Skymet. 

Speaking with Republic TV, Palawat said that the weather forecasting agency expects the rainfall to continue in Mumbai till Sunday evening.

Meanwhile, the Mumbai Police on Sunday cautioned the local residents against venturing in the waters or around the sea. Hindmata, Sion, King Circle, Mahalakshmi, Dadar are some of the worst affected areas in the city owing to being low lying areas.

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(With Agency Inputs)