Climate change and urbanization have worsened the city’s monsoon floods — and they’re likely to become more extreme. How do flood-affected communities cope?
With global warming, coastal cities like Mumbai face various climate risks, including extreme rainfall, an increase in cyclones and storms, storm surges and sea level rise. Though the city sees monsoon floods annually, scientists predict that by 2050 it will experience prolonged periods of flooding.
This documentary looks at how Mumbai’s northern Dahisar River breaches its banks almost every monsoon – and how this affects communities living nearby. People in Adivasi padas (or hamlets), chawls and multi-storey buildings speak of how they experience heavy losses because their homes and shops get flooded.
Though the authorities are trying to resettle these communities, alternate housing in the city, they say, is not immediately available. And the fate of those who live by the river and who are on the frontlines of climate change hangs in the balance.
This story was produced with support from Internews’ Earth Journalism Network. It was first published on July 5, 2023 in Scroll and has been edited for length and clarity.
Banner image: A man walking through a flooded Mumbai street / Credit: Puneet Paranjpe/AFP.
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