Mumbai Rains: To north of city, roads turn rivers

A flooded Suncity Road in Vasai West. Pic/Hanif Patel

Saturday night's downpour wreaked havoc in Vasai-Virar-Nalasopara and Dahanu areas of Palghar district, once again exposing the civic administrations' lack of preparation. Many ground-floor houses were flooded and streets turned into rivers. Vehicles parked in housing societies were either submerged or found floating.

A boy, 4, fell into an open drain in Nalasopara East on Sunday morning and his body hasn't been found yet. Fire department officials said they have launched an intensive search operation, but waterlogging is making the task difficult. "Our search operations to find the child are underway," Dilip Palav, the chief fire officer of Vasai Virar City Municipal Corporation (VVCMC) told mid-day.

A portion of a bridge near Irani Road in Dahanu was washed away by a flash flood

In Vasai West, about 80 cooking gas cylinders washed up on 8 Miles Road. Fire brigade officials and police officers rushed to the spot after the reporter posted about it on Twitter. Zonal Deputy Commissioner of Police Sanjay Kumar Patil said, "We have called the owner of a gas agency, from where the cylinders got washed away, to come with the documents to assess the legality to store."

Also read: Mumbai: Heavy rain gets their goat, traders forced to reduce prices

Residents in the low-lying areas of Vasai-Nalasopara-Virar were affected the most. In a midnight operation, fire officials rescued several occupants of the shanties. Holding on to a rope and carrying their precious belongings, including livestock, the residents waded through waist-deep water to safety.

Fire officials rescue residents in the low-lying area of Virar in a midnight operation on Saturday

"We shifted them to a safer place and distributed biscuits and other eateries," said Vishal Shirke, the in-charge of Virar fire station. However, they will have to take shelter in various religious places because Vasai-Nalasopara-Virar does not have a dedicated "transition room", said Shiv Sena leader Kiran Chendvankar. "The poor have to suffer every monsoon. I have on multiple occasions demanded for a transition room to be used as shelter in such incidents, but to no avail." She also visited Mitha Ghar in Vasai where salt workers live. "For the past five years, their shanties get flooded every monsoon even if there is moderate rainfall."

Snake rescued from home

A civic official said a venomous snake was rescued from a house in Virar.

Boy, who fell into an open drain in Nalasopara, has been missing since Sunday morning. Pics/Hanif Patel

Several residents of a posh colony on Irani Road in Dahanu complained of water getting inside the ground-floor of their bungalows. They moved to the upper floors and also shifted some of the belongings. Some of them had visitors from Mumbai, but could not return as their vehicles were damaged, said locals. Social activist Narendra Patel, whose house was also flooded, alleged that encroachment along Kankradi river has caused flooding on Irani Road.

"I have given an application to the Pune green tribunal regarding the encroachment, as the Dahanu Nagar Parishad officials do not act on my complaints."

LPG cylinders, which were washed away from a gas agency by heavy flooding, seen on 8 Miles Road in Vasai West

A transporter, Vijay Parekh, said, "The muddy brown rainwater entered our bedroom on the ground floor and my mother's belongings started to float. We shifted a few of the items to a safer place." Parekh and his neighbours had to call a water tanker to sweep the sludge out. "It stinks a lot," Parekh said.

His nephew Dhrumil Patel, a professional snake catcher, told mid-day that a few snakes, including venomous, were spotted in the area after water started receding. Another resident, Kunal Mali, said, "The current of floodwater was so strong that the upper layer of a bridge, near Irani Road in Dahanu, was washed away on Sunday."

A local resident wades through chest-deep water in Mitha Ghar, Vasai, where salt workers live

Bharat Rajput, the mayor of Dahanu Nagar Parishad, said, "It rained more than we had expected. However, after water receded, we sprinkled mosquito repellent in the area." About the damage to houses and vehicles, he said, "I am asking the tehsildar to conduct a survey in the area and submit a report to decide the further course of action."