Homes flooded, hundreds take shelter on Diva, Mumbra FoBs, platforms

An officer of the Government Railway Police (GRP) said more than 500 people stayed at Diva and Mumbra platforms on Sunday night.

As heavy rain lashed Diva and Mumbra areas on Sunday, hundreds of people took refuge at foot overbridges (FoB) and platforms of railway stations to escape the rising water levels in their homes.

Tata power area in Diva was seen flooded. Amid the downpour and strong wind, most of them spread out on newspaper or sheets and stayed without food throughout the night. ( Praful Gangurde/ HT Photo)

Amid the downpour and strong wind, most of them spread out on newspaper or sheets and stayed without food throughout the night.

Tara Navgire, 24, a resident of Diva (East), was one of them. She left home with her month-old baby, three-year-old son and five-year-old daughter on Sunday afternoon when her home started flooding. “We decided to go to Diva West, where a relative resides, but that too got waterlogged later. With nowhere to go, we decided to wait on the Diva station FoB along with so many others. It was very cold and we were worried about our children,” she said.

Navgire said she left the station around 10am on Monday, after she learnt that the water had receded. Though there was not enough milk to provide the children, she got help from local representatives, said Navgire.

Another Diva resident, Gopal Patel, 25, from Suresh Nagar, was at the station with his ageing parents. “There were more than 200 people on the FoB as it was on a height. My parents are old and I was worried about their safety. We decided to stay put at the station till the water receded and slept on newspapers.”

An officer of the Government Railway Police (GRP) said more than 500 people stayed at Diva and Mumbra platforms on Sunday night. “Most activists and officials of the Regional Disaster Management Cell (RDMC) of the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) provided food packets to them. We provided them vada pav in the morning,” he said,