Author Amitav Ghosh issued a warning eight years prior to a large billboard in Mumbai that crushed fourteen people and injured several others during a storm, describing the billboards as “deadly projectiles” that would turn into deadly projectiles in the event of a cyclone.

“Many of the dwellings in Mumbai’s informal settlements have roofs made of metal sheets and corrugated iron; cyclone-force winds will turn these, and the thousands of billboards that encrust the city, into deadly projectiles, hurling them with great force at the glass-wrapped towers that soar above the city,” wrote Mr. Ghosh, who has repeatedly highlighted the issues surrounding climate change in his work.

Mr. Ghosh reiterated the warning issued following the horrific incident in a social media post, stating that Monday’s storm was not strong enough to qualify as a major cyclone and urging prompt action to reduce the number of billboards of this kind.

“In The Great Derangement, I predicted that during a powerful storm, ‘the thousands of billboards that encrust’ Mumbai would turn ‘into deadly projectiles’.” A major cyclone would cause far more damage than the current storm did. Mumbai has to dramatically reduce the number of billboards, he stated on X.

Close to a hundred individuals were trapped after a 120 by 120-foot billboard fell on a gas pump in Mumbai on Monday afternoon during a dust storm and unexpected downpour. Rescue efforts are ongoing, with fourteen bodies having been located thus far. Citation officials have come under fire for claiming that the billboard was put up illegally and without authority.
A case of responsible homicide that does not qualify as murder has been filed against people associated with the company that put up the billboard.