Heavy rains continue to disrupt normal life in various parts of goa

Published on:

07 Jul 2023, 12:54 am

Rain, wind lead to uprooting of trees at Farmagudi, Bandora

PONDA: The incessant heavy rains on Thursday led to falling of trees on various roads at Ponda Taluka causing hardships to commuters.

The uprooted trees also brought down power poles and snapped wires at many places.

The Ponda Fire Department personnel and electricity linemen were seen busy till late evening clearing trees from roads.

Similarly, the linemen were seen busy repairing and installing power lines to restore the power supply.

Ponda Fire Station in-charge Sushil Morajkar said they received at least seven calls and were busy clearing those calls till late evening.

He said a tree collapsed near the Shivaji Fort on main road damaging power lines. However, it did not caused any major traffic blockade as fire personnel cleared it within 10 minutes. Trees also fell at Usgao, Shiroda, Dhavlim and other areas, which were cleared by fire services personnel.

Uprooted banyan tree blocks Saligao-Pilerne road

CALANGUTE: A huge banyan tree came crashing down on the busy Saligao-Pilerne road at around 6 am on Thursday, following the incessant rain, bringing down electricity cables. Firefighters from the Pilerne Fire Station, located in the vicinity, immediately rushed to the spot and cleared the debris.

Another tree crash bringing down electricity cables was also reported from Nerul on Thursday evening, officials said.

The continuous downpour since Wednesday led to water-logging at a number of places on the Chogm road stretch in Saligao, Calangute, and also Candolim. One lane of Chogm road in front of Vidya Niketan School turned into a lake with knee-deep water, leading to a number of vehicles getting stuck.

One two-wheeler owner said, “It took him 30 minutes to push through the stretch after it developed mechanical problems.”

When contacted, Calangute Sarpanch Joseph Sequeira said, “It being a PWD road, it is their responsibility.”

“Actually the PWD is supposed to do it, but they've not done it for reasons best known to them,” he said, adding that the panchayat engaged labourers to clear the drain for the water to flow as a temporary measure.

Retaining wall on Talaulim culvert collapses

PONDA: A retaining wall of the culvert at Talaulim collapsed, damaging the water line near the culvert, causing water shortage in the areas of two village panchayats - Talaulim and Durbhat-Agapur for entire day.

Blaming the contractor for the damage, locals said that the contractor had dug at the foundation of this retaining wall for laying power cables in a negligent manner.

Locals said that recently the work on laying power cables was undertaken and during the process, the workers engaged for the work dug at the base of retaining wall near the culvert. Due to heavy rains, the foundation got weakened and the wall caved in. A water pipeline was also damaged in the process.

Heavy rain causes massive landslide at Sancoale

Coconut tree crashes on a parked car at Vasco

VASCO: A massive landslide occurred at Upasnagar-Sancoale, on Thursday morning due to heavy rains. However, no casualties were reported.

The residents have expressed their concerns about the deteriorating condition of the road as the landslide brought down mud, boulders and even uprooted many trees, making the road dangerous to motorists during monsoon.

The locals are also worried about their safety as the affected area is a major road heading towards the Sancoale church with poor infrastructure.

Sancoale Panchayat member Maurelio Carvalho said that the village panchayat has now plans to construct a retaining wall to prevent further landslides along this vulnerable road stretch. As a temporary measure a steel net will be put up to prevent further landslide.

According to social worker Eddie Fernandes, the landslide occurred at around 7.30 am on Thursday.

Cortalim MLA Anton Vas rushed to the site and conducted a joint inspection. He also instructed Fire personnel, Electricity Department and Traffic Police Cell to remove the mud and clear the road for movement of traffic. Meanwhile, a coconut tree crashed on a parked car at Bhutebhat, Vasco, on Thursday. Due to tree fall, the car was damaged causing a loss of Rs two lakh. Later, the tree was cut and the ill-fated vehicle was towed away.

Falling of trees keep Pernem fire personnel on their toes

PERNEM: Pernem fire personnel had a busy on Thursday, as the station received more than 20 calls of trees falling on houses and electricity poles and also blocking traffic on roads in different parts of Pernem Taluka.

A tamarind tree collapsed on a road at Sakral, Nilgiri tree collapsed at Oshelbag Dhargal, a bhindi tree on electricity line and road at Parse, a huge mango tree collapsed on a garage at Morjim, bhindi tree collapsed on a house at Ashwem and at Chopdem, while a coconut tree fell on a house at Arambol, causing heavy losses to the owners. Similar incidents were reported at Keri, Warkhand, Malpe, Paliem and other locations.

Rain exposes sub-standard hot-mix carpeting of approach to KTC bus stand in Ponda

PONDA: The rains have exposed the sub-standard hot-mix carpeting done on the approach road to KTC bus stand at Ponda.

It may be recalled that both entry and exit roads at KTC bus stand were in pathetic condition and were recently repaired in the month of June.

However, the heavy showers have exposed the sub-standard repair work. The gravel on tarred road has been washed away, damaging the newly tarred road. The locals said government should not clear the bills of the contractor till he repairs the road.