India’s Financial Capital Remains Unprepared for a Major Cyclone

The Bandstand Promenade along Mumbai’s waterfront offers a rare respite from the chaos and cacophony that plague the city of more than 20 million. People of all classes and castes stroll, enjoy street food and take selfies, and after sunset nearby clubs pump out high-octane hits into the wee hours. Across the two-lane road that lines the stone walkway, sumptuous homes of billionaire potentates and Bollywood princes hide behind gates and gardens.

Extreme weather threatens it all. Cyclones, South Asia’s equivalent of hurricanes, have long been a problem on India’s east coast, from Kolkata down to Chennai, but the other ...