Starting this monsoon, Mumbaikars will get local flood warnings if there is heavy rainfall. While this piece of information may delight citizens, there is a catch. At this stage, BMC’s flood warning system has an error margin of 35 per cent. Civic officials said they are yet to gather all the data needed to make accurate predictions but have decided to roll out the warning system.

The flood warning system was launched in June 2020 but was kept limited to the disaster management department of the BMC. This year, the BMC has planned to integrate the system with its monsoon app, which gives rain updates of 60 city locations every 15 minutes. Officials said the app, MCGM Disaster Management, will be launched before June—it might also get a new name. It will also have information on rainfall data from automatic weather stations, time and height of high tides.