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Belapur overwhelmed, picnickers rescued in Kharghar
Navi Mumbai faced severe flooding due to heavy rains, impacting homes, markets, and prompting rescues. Water-logging affected transport and infrastructure.
NAVI MUMBAI: Incessant rain swept through Navi Mumbai on Monday, flooding low-lying homes, causing severe water-logging in parts of the city, causing vegetables to rot in wholesale markets, and prompting the rescue of students from a waterfall in Kharghar.
Heavy rain began late on Sunday night and grew intense on Monday morning, registering an average 100 mm for Navi Mumbai on Monday. Nerul and Belapur were impacted most, with both places recording 200 mm on Monday. Six trees collapsed and water-logging was widespread, including at railway underpasses across the city.
Morbe dam, located in Khalapur and the primary source of water for Navi Mumbai, received over 125 mm of rainfall, bringing water levels to 74.32 m.
In the Raigad Bhavan area of sector 11 in Belapur, cars were almost submerged and water flooded homes and shops in sectors 4, 5 and 6. Belapur had witnessed similar flooding in 2021, after which there were protests and a pumping station was commissioned in sector 12, to drain water into the creek from the low-lying area. The pumping station has since been demolished to make way for a new one. In the interim, there’s only a single pump, which led to water-logging in many areas. Locals said at least four to five pumps are needed to be effective.
The APMC market and the area around the MAFCO market were also flooded. Heavy rains and the absence of retailers led to large quantities of vegetables rotting, which had to be thrown away by the traders.
Navi Mumbai municipal commissioner Kailas Shinde said the civic body was monitoring the situation via the 1,215 cameras installed across the city. “We have been on alert since last night as we are in a low-pressure belt. This year, we had stopped all construction work and started nallah cleaning work early as we had expected the monsoon to arrive earlier than usual. We have also undertaken large-scale desilting work.”
Panvel too was impacted by the heavy pre-monsoon showers. It received over 100mm of rainfall, leading to water-logging in several areas. Low-lying Kalamboli was worst affected, with water flooding homes in several localities. Water logging was reported from Kamothe, Kharghar and Taloja as well. The area near Panvel railway station was flooded, causing problems for commuters. Incomplete road concretization and nallah work was blamed for the water-logging in several areas.
In Kharghar, five students from Dharavi-Sion were rescued by local fire station personnel. They were on a picnic at the Pandavkada waterfalls. The spot had, in fact, been shut for safety reasons. The boys, stuck on one side of the hill, were brought to safety by fire personnel with the help of ropes. They had to cross water gushing down the hills even as heavy winds and rain lashed the area.
On Monday morning, a state transport bus heading from Panvel to Mumbai ended up tilted on a divider on the Sion-Panvel highway at Kharghar near Hiranandani complex. There was no loss of life or injuries.
In Uran, several homes in Belwadi hamlet of Sarde region were damaged, while the tin roofs of over 30 houses in Kalambusre village were blown away due to heavy winds that accompanied the rain all night and during the day. Homes were also flooded in Bokadvira village.
