Downpour in Pune: Motorists hit as E-way, old highway flooded

Heavy rains brought traffic on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway and the old national highway connecting the cities to a standstill on Friday, inconveniencing hundreds of people travelling between the cities, especially for Ganeshotsav.

Heavy rains brought traffic on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway and the old national highway connecting the cities to a standstill on Friday, inconveniencing hundreds of people travelling between the cities, especially for Ganeshotsav.

The showers that began on Thursday left both the roads submerged at several places, leaving motorists no option but to either drive slow or wait till the water receded. While vehicular movement wasn’t officially stopped, traffic was moving at a snail’s pace till late on Friday night.

HT Photo

The Pune district has received heavy rainfall since Wednesday night, with the Lonavala-Khandala belt worst affected. Lonavala received more than 100mm of rainfall in between Thursday and Friday, the highest this monsoon season.

According to Pune Rural police, there was water logging at several places, including at Urse and Kamshet toll plazas on the highways. Portions of the expressway near Lonavala were completely under water.

Trains between Lonavala and Pune were hit as the tracks were submerged and at one location part of the track was even washed away. Railway authorities had to undertake restoration work on war footing and services had started by late evening.