E-Paper
One dead, over 400 evacuated as rains and flood wreak havoc in Goa
Overnight heavy rainfall wreaked havoc in parts of Goa inundating houses, leaving hundreds stranded homes flooded, communication lines snapped and rail and road traffic disrupted
Overnight heavy rainfall wreaked havoc in parts of Goa inundating houses, leaving hundreds stranded homes flooded, communication lines snapped and rail and road traffic disrupted. No loss of life has been reported yet, officials said.
Two houses collapsed in the wee hours of Friday morning but no one was injured in Valpoi taluka in North Goa as the occupants abandoned their homes no sooner the water began rising at around 3 am.
Chief minister Pramod Sawant inspected the areas which were flooded as a result of incessant rains in various parts of Bicholim taluka, one of the affected taluks. He also directed the officials to provide immediate assistance to people in distress. 23 people in Harvalem in Bicholim were rescued and brought to safety.
“For the last eight days, Goa has received a lot of rain especially Sattari, Bicholim, Ponda, Dharbandora, Bardez and Pernem. The state received unprecedented rains. The last we received such rainfall was in 1982 but this time it was even more than that. One woman is feared dead after she drowned in the rising waters. We are still inquiring into the circumstances of her death," Chief Minister Sawant said.
"As per the present report more than 700 houses are damaged. 832 hectares of standing crop is lost causing a loss of 2.55 crore,” he added.
A bridge in Paikul Sattari was washed away cutting the village off from the mainstream while at least three incidents of houses collapsing after being inundated by floodwaters were reported from different parts of Goa.
In a related incident, the engine and a passenger coach of the Mangaluru Jn-Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus Express Spl (which was running on the diverted route via Madgaon-Londa-Miraj due to overflow of Vashishti River between Chiplun and Kamathe), suffered a derailment between Dudhsagar-Sonaulim section along the steep slope of the western ghats.
“No passenger casualty has been reported (no injury/death). The passengers of the affected coach have been shifted to other coaches. The train is being pulled back to Kulem, and has crossed Sonaulim at this time,” the South Western Railway, which operates the line, said in a statement.
Roads connecting Goa and North Karnataka have also been cut off due to landslides halting the flow of traffic.
The India Meteorological Department, Goa, on Thursday night, warned of “very intense spells of short duration” over parts of Goa including Sattari, Dharbandora, Ponda, Sanguem, Salcette and Quepem. As predicted, the areas received very heavy rainfall with Valpoi in Sattari receiving 296.2 mm of rainfall, Sanguem 213 mm and Sanquelim 178.2 mm, respectively.
Several villages in Valpoi, Bicholim, Pernem and Ponda talukas were cut off after the roads leading to the villages got affected.
“Due to continuous and heavy rainfall, Mhadei has been overflowing. Water has entered different parts of Valpoi. Our people have faced immense hardship due to continuous and heavy rainfall in Sattari,” health minister Vishwajit Rane, who represents the Valpoi constituency, said.
The MeT department has warned of more rainfall for the next five days.
“Ghat areas and hilly areas in North and South Goa districts are very likely to receive rainfall exceeding 20 cm in 24 hours. Likelihood of very heavy rainfall (115.6-204.4 mm of rainfall in 24 hours) continues over North and South Goa districts for about three more days with scattered and isolated spatial distributions,” the weather department said in its forecast.
Goa has been on a ‘red alert’ for Thursday and Friday and has been alternating between red and orange alerts since Jun 12 when the current spell of continuous heavy spells of rain began. Since June 12, Goa has witnessed heavy rains that are likely to continue for another five days at least.
The rains have been further strengthened by a well-marked low-pressure area over Northwest Bay of Bengal off north Odisha-West Bengal coasts which has led to an off-shore trough at mean sea level which now runs from Maharashtra coast to north Kerala coast.
“Winds of speed 45-55kmph gusting to 65kmph are very likely along with intense rainfall spells for a short duration are very likely over North and South Goa districts,” the IMD said on Friday.
