Mumbai turns to Twitter for help mapping India’s monsoon floods

A file photo of a person riding a scooter through a waterlogged road during monsoon rain showers in Mumbai, India. Climate researchers in India’s financial capital hope real-time social media posts can help them boost the city’s flood response. — Reuters

MUMBAI: When monsoon rains sweep into Mumbai each year, residents of India's financial hub find their social media feeds awash with flood memes – from Venetian gondolas plying the city’s deluged streets to office workers commuting on inflatable dinghies.

This year, a research institute hopes social media can play a more practical role – asking residents to tweet details about floods in their neighbourhoods and using the data to issue geographically specific flood alerts in real-time.