Raining problems

Flooding is no longer just a rural nightmare

Mumbai, India’s financial capital, has yet again cut a sorry figure after a bout of torrential rains brought the city to a complete standstill. The flooded streets, submerged railways, and the disruption to the lives of millions of Mumbaikars already point to an embarrassing state of affairs. What makes this unedifying snapshot worse is the fact that this has fast become the norm, not the exception. Notwithstanding the fact that Mumbai received an abnormally high level of rainfall on Tuesday – around 320 mm, which was 30 times the average and brought back memories of the 944 mm rainfall the