Mumbaikers are using Twitter and Google Docs to carpool through severe flooding

By Nidhi Prakash  |  June 19, 2015 | 4:26pm
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The citizens of Mumbai woke up this morning after the heaviest June rain recorded in 10 years, flooding the streets and bringing public transport to a stand still.

Though there are severe floods every year during the monsoon season, the Hindustan Times reports these are the worst early monsoon floods the city has seen in a decade, with 208 mm just in central Mumbai by Friday morning.

Despite the city’s call for Mumbaikers to stay home today, some were coordinating car pools over Twitter to help each other get around the city on whatever clear roads they can find, using the hashtag #MumbaiCarPool.

Which lead some organized commuters to put together a Google Doc to keep track.

At some major transport hubs, trains were arriving but not leaving this morning, some commuters said on Twitter.

After the heavy downpours overnight, several essential train lines are still suspended, leaving commuters stranded on packed platforms.

Meanwhile, the city agency in charge of transportation, the BMC, issued warnings. Some Mumbaikers did not take kindly to this.

After floods in Mumbai and the surrounding area that killed 5,000 people in July 2005, the city promised a re-assessment of flood readiness and to clean up the roads. Citizens who face the same flooding issues to varying degrees every year are not convinced that anything has changed.

The monsoon season is taking an even more serious toll in other parts of India: flooding in the northern region of Assam over the last week has displaced at least 1,700 people and submerged large areas, NDTV reports.

 
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