In a major operation undertaken in less than a week, the authorities rescued as many as 106 tourists from the swollen Chicholi waterfall in Vasai taluka of Palghar district, even as torrential rains pounded Mumbai and neighbouring Thane district inundating many areas and disrupting road and rail traffic for the third consecutive day.
On a day when normal life was badly affected, heavy water logging was reported from many parts of the metropolis. With roads and railway track lying under thick sheets of waters at many places, the movement of suburban trains and other public transports remained crippled all through the day.
While two wheelers and four-wheelers were stranded on roads, cars were virtually seen floating because of the swollen floods. So much so that people were seen walking over the island dividers over roads or clinging on to each other.
While they rescued 106 tourists from the Chinchoti waterfalls in Vasai tehsil of Palghar district, the authorities reached out nearly villagers marooned at Manipur Mitaghar, a saltpan locality.
“We have accommodated 500 marooned people at an Anganwadi and Shiv Mandir at Arnala. We are providing milk, biscuits, some food pockets and drinking water to those whose houses collapsed either partially or fully due to rains. A medical team is rushing to the spot. I have asked the local officials to do a panchanama of the losses suffered by the people and submit a report,” Palghar District Collector Prashant Narnaware told The Pioneer in the evening.
Meanwhile, following the death of one person in Thane, the toll in rain-related incidents in Mumbai and neighbouring areas went up to seven since Friday.
A 40-feet retaining wall collapsed on the premises of Air India Ground support division on Sahar air cargo complex road. Three cargo vehicles were reported damaged at 5.30pm today owing to heavy rains.
Meanwhile, Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) of the IMD and private forecast company Skymet Weather have forecast “heavy to very heavy rains” in Mumbai and MMR on Tuesday and Wednesday.