5 dead in Maharashtra rains, schools to be shut
MONSOON MESS: Water seeped into many homes as train services were hit badly while choppers rescue stranded people
MUMBAI: At least five persons were killed in Mumbai and Satara as rains continued to batter large parts of Maharashtra, especially the coastal Konkan region, on Sunday, hitting train services badly. Helicopters rescued 73 people in Thane and boats were deployed to rescue around 400 people stranded in Mumbai suburbs, officials said.
In the state capital, a woman and her son were killed due to electrocution in Santacruz east and a youth was washed away in Dharavi while two persons from Pune drowned in a waterfall in Satara after their vehicle hit a barricade and fell into a flooded drain at Babhalnala early on Sunday.
Following incessant overnight rains, water seeped into many homes in Kranti Nagar, Indira Nagar, Jarimari, Shankarnagar and Bail-bazar areas of Kurla suburb and two teams of the NDRF deployed rubber boats to rescue around 400 residents stranded there.
“They have been temporarily shifted to Bazarwad Municipal School and other schools. Congress activists have also made arrangements for food, water and medical help as required,” local MLA and Congress deputy leader in Assembly Naseem Khan said.
The Indian Air Force deployed a MI-17 helicopter to rescue 58 villagers, including 18 children, from Ju village in neigbouring Thane as they were stranded in rising flood waters.
In another operation, 15 marooned villagers were saved by a MI-17 chopper in Buranda village of Palghar this evening.
The operations were conducted after a request by the Maharashtra government, and all the stranded people have shifted to safer locations at the Air Force Station in Thane, and another location in Palghar, said an official spokesperson.
In Church Road-dahanukarwadi areas of Kandivali, some locals made temporary rafts of wooden boards to ferry people to nearby areas for replenishing stocks of essentials.
In some villages in Pen of Raigad district, around 60 people were stuck in five-six feet deep water since 4 am on Sunday, were rescued by NDRF teams in boats and similarly 40 saved from marooned Mori village in Palghar this afternoon.
Most schools and college in Thane, Ratnagiri and Pune have declared a holiday on Monday in view of continuing rains. The Western Railway (WR) services between Vasai-virar were suspended for several hours as the tracks were flooded, before resuming at reduced speeds after 14.35 pm.
Even Central Railway (CR) services were hit in some sectors like Kurla-sion due to waterlogging on tracks, breaches in railway lines, and landslides on outstation routes, while its suburban Harbour Line was paralysed.
Owing to boulders falling on railway tracks, the CR cancelled 18 trains, diverted three services and short-terminated seven long-distance trains at various points. Trains like the Nagpur-mumbai Duronto Express were stuck at Igatpuri since 4 am.
Thousands of outstation passengers were stranded at various stations in Mumbai, Thane and Palghar as the train services were disrupted, while hundreds more were stuck in incoming trains that have been halted at various locations en route.
Similar chaos was witnessed on the Konkan Railway with trains getting delayed, inconveniencing thousands of passengers.
Mumbai experienced a 4.86 metres high tide at 2.29 pm, and the combined effect of the existing waterlogging and continuing rains, led to homes in many parts of the suburbs experiencing fresh flooding this afternoon.
The BMC, NDRF, two columns of Indian Army, Navy and Air Force, besides all other agencies are on a high alert for any eventuality in Mumbai and Thane. — IANS