Flood alert! Mumbai firms gear up

Two days ahead of the high tide warning, corporate houses in Mumbai are busy drawing plans to meet any possible recurrence of the July 26, 2005 deluge in the metropolis.

The Bombay Chamber of Commerce and Industry in association with Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai and Mahindra Special Services Group which conducted a flood preparedness session on Wednesday saw officials participating from the Securities and Exchange Board of India, ICICI Bank, Hindustan Unilever and The Leela Group of Hotels.

"We have a disaster management plan in place not only for floods but also for situations like 26/11, Bhopal Gas Tragedy, fire or any untoward incident," said Hindustan Unilever's, head administrative services, Uttam Patel.

"Since we do not want a repeat of 26/7 deluge we are informed in advance by the authorities, thus we have taken several measures. We have made a list of do's and dont's during floods and have kept it on each and every table of our employees," Patel said.

Sheriff of Mumbai, Indu Shahani, who was also present at the event, said, "There is a need for community based disaster management cell, all communities must come together.

"It is good that the corporate world have come together to prepare not only themselves but their employees during floods."

"It is good that the municipal corporation has informed everyone in advance so that people are well prepared. People must come up with innovative and creative ways of helping and doing things during emergency situations," the sheriff said.

Ashutosh Kale, country head, group security, The Leela Group, said, "There is need for a leadership quality at this point as people often panic which leads to rumours."

Meanwhile, Mahindra Special Services Group in its presentation focused on do's and dont's during floods, lessons learnt from 2005 floods, analysis of current situation in the city and preparations done by government agencies among several other things.

"We have a business disaster management cell plan since 2004 which we upgrade on regular basis. The central disaster management cell takes decision as to what and how things should be done during emergency situations and accordingly advice our employees," said Mahindra Special Services Group's head Pawan Desai.

The presentation also suggested that during high tide, floodgates should be closed to stop ingress of sea water, inadequate waste management system, use of polythene, encroachments and other reasons.

During a flood-like situation, one should get in touch with the local civic ward officials and other important agencies like fire brigade, police, ambulance, hospitals, and keep all the emergency contact numbers handy apart from stocking food, water, basic medicines and first aid kits, the presentation added.

"People must not panic, should not get swayed by rumors, assign one or two personnel to get the updates from authorities, conserve cell phone batteries," Desai said.

"If they are indoors then they should not move out, use available source of communication and turn off the electric supply," he said.

"This is not the first time that we are conducting workshops on any kind of disaster situation. We advise them to come up with disaster management plans, keep their employees aware and train them," the municipality's chief officer of disaster management cell, Vilas Vaidya, said.

The MCGM has predicted high tides of over five metres on July 24 and 25. High tides if coupled with heavy rainfall could prove disastrous. Low lying areas could experience flooding even with moderate rainfall.

The 26/7 floods caused high tides of 4.48 m with rainfall of 944 mm within 24 hours starting 8.30 am on July 26 to 8.30 am on July 27, 2005.