New Delhi (Agency): Torrential rains have battered parts of Thane district in Maharashtra, causing extensive flooding that forced many families to evacuate their homes and disrupted traffic on two major highways. A 32-year-old man has reportedly been swept away in a swollen stream while he was fishing in Kalwa town during the heavy downpour.
Due to the continuous rain, many low-lying areas in Bhiwandi and Mira Bhayandar in Thane district, and Vasai and Virar in Palghar district were flooded. The head of the Disaster Management Cell of the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC), Yasin Tadvi, said that a man, identified only as Dosa, was swept away while fishing near a creek in Kalwa.
Search efforts by local firefighters and Regional Disaster Management Cell (RDMC) personnel lasted more than three hours, but they were unable to locate Dosa. From 8:30 am to 4:30 pm on Thursday, Thane city received 88.88 mm of rain, said Tadvi. So far this monsoon season, the city has recorded a total rainfall of 2,172.65 mm, significantly more than the 1,443.97 mm recorded during the same period last year.
“About 45 families living on a hill in Mumbra Devi locality were moved to a safe location after a small boulder came loose and crashed. These residents were temporarily relocated to a temple,” a district official stated.
Heavy flooding since morning has rendered Ghodbunder Road, which connects the western part of Thane to its east side, impassable, disrupting traffic flow and leaving several vehicles stranded.
Residents of Nehru Nagar locality in Bhiwandi, located on a hill, were evacuated by civic officials due to fears of landslides. Thane city’s DCP (Traffic), Vinaykumar Rathod, issued a statement saying that the Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway was congested due to water-logging and potholes. As a result, vehicles heading towards Thane, Mumbai, and Nashik were diverted to the Chinchoti-Bhiwandi route, which led to traffic congestion on the Mumbai-Nashik highway as well.
Inhabitants of a chawl (old row house) in Bhiwandi were rescued after rainwater accumulated around the building, according to an official of the Bhiwandi Nizampur City Municipal Corporation. The evacuation process for residents of precarious buildings in several localities in Bhiwandi was underway.
Amid rising water levels in Idgah slum colony and Teen Batti Naka locality, firemen were shifting residents to safer locations. A protection wall of a housing society in Thane city’s Raigad Ali collapsed due to the heavy rain, but no injuries were reported, said Tadvi.
Because of the relentless rain in the catchment area, the Tansa dam started overflowing and 15 of its gates were opened, releasing 1,65,000 cusecs of water. In the neighboring Palghar district, 8,400 cusecs of water were being discharged from the Dhamani dam and 21,100 cusecs from the Kawadas dam.
