The Great Cyclone That Hit Bombay In 1948 – 2 Prints
Two old prints show the great cyclone hitting Bombay (now Mumbai) on the 21st and 22nd of November, 1948. These are two pages from The Illustrated London News of December 4, 1948. Recounting the great cyclone that hit Bombay in 1948. The pages are profusely illustrated with pictures of the trail of destruction it left in the city. The devastation took place on the 21st and 22nd of November 1948.
The images show two light aircraft blown one over the other at Juhu Airport. Huge uprooted trees blocking roads and thoroughfares. Heavy stones hurled across the Gateway of India ground, iron benches upturned in Marine Drive, tall coconut trees swaying dangerously in the high wind. Another image shows the spire of the St Anne’s Church at Mazagaon blown down. Today, although cyclones are rare in Mumbai but heavy rains with flooding seem to be more prevalent each year. The highest rainfall recorded in Bombay was 1254mm in 1958.
See post- Flood Scene In 19th Century Mumbai – Old Print 1868. Also read Bombay’s tryst with cyclones
Did you know- in 2013, the journal Nature Climate Change listed Mumbai as the fifth coastal city in the world to be most affected by flooding in the future, measured by economic losses. The first four are Guangzhou, Miami, New York-Newark, and New Orleans.
From the collection- Raja Ravi Varma’s “Birth of Shakuntala” Oleograph 1894., Ooty or Ootacamund Lake – Old Print 1920s., Vintage Postcard Bangalore Cubbon Park., Elephants Of The Rajah Of Travancore – Old Print 1858
