Mumbra residents shifted to safety as landslide fear looms

With heavy showers during the evening peak hours, waterlogging was reported at several places in Thane, including traditional low-lying areas such as Vandana cinema, Talaopali, and Shrirang Society. Ghodbunder Road, Manpada, and Hiranandani Estate also faced waterlogging at several places

Mumbai: Around 60 to 70 people were shifted out of a slum pocket on the Mumbradevi Temple hill in Mumbra on Thursday as the civic officials believed that the colony could face possible landslide due to heavy rains in Thane district.

Accordingly, seven families were shifted to Patel School nearby. Others were shifted to a nearby mosque where arrangements were made for their food and stay. (HT Photo)

“The reports of any landslide are false. I spotted that it was a potentially dangerous area and alerted my superiors. The additional municipal commissioner and city engineer visited the spot,” said Yasin Tadvi, TMC’s Regional Disaster Management Cell (RDMC).

“We informed the forest officials as the area with an estimated 200 houses is located on forest land. Forest officials also assessed the situation. Only about eight to 10 houses appeared to be at the risk of facing a landslide, but as a precaution, we decided to shift everyone to safety,” added Tadvi.

Accordingly, seven families were shifted to Patel School nearby. Others were shifted to a nearby mosque where arrangements were made for their food and stay.

On Thursday, Thane received 153 mm of rainfall during 12 hours from 8.30am to 8.30pm. Out of this, 127.77mm of rainfall occurred in five hours between 2.30 and 7.30 pm.

With heavy showers during the evening peak hours, waterlogging was reported at several places in Thane, including traditional low-lying areas such as Vandana cinema, Talaopali, and Shrirang Society. Ghodbunder Road, Manpada, and Hiranandani Estate also faced waterlogging at several places.

The heavy showers also caused massive traffic snarls on Ghodbunder Road, Thane-Nashik Road, and Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway.

Waterlogging on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway led to traffic jams from Gaimukh to Chinchoti, and the Thane traffic police then diverted the traffic on the Chinchoti-Bhiwandi route, due to which the Thane-Nashik highway faced even more congestion.

A protection wall of a housing society in Raigad Aali in Thane city caved in due to heavy rainfall, and tree collapses were reported from Khevra Circle, damaging a four-wheeler parked nearby and on a jogging track at Kachrali Lake.

A buffalo was swept away fell into a nullah in Anand Nagar on Ghodbunder Road and was rescued by a disaster team.

The district administration has sounded an alert for villages around Barvi Dam in Murbad due to the possibility of the dam overflowing. The dam’s overflow level is 72.60 mm, and the water level had touched 70.76 mm by Thursday night.

When the overflow level is reached, the automatically operated sluice gates are likely to open, and excess water could overflow. A similar alert was sounded for Modak Sagar dam, which may overflow if heavy rains continue at night.

As a precaution, the district authorities declared a holiday for schools in Thane for the second consecutive day on Friday. First and second-year junior colleges will also be closed. Some schools like Vasant Vihar high school, decided to switch to online classes.