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 near its banks. 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 are on the frontlines of climate change hangs in the balance.
This film was produced with the support of Internews’ Earth Journalism Network as part of its Covering Coastal Resilience project (2022-’24).