One hour of rain floods houses in Thane

The first showers on Monday night exposed the hollow rain-preparedness claims of the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) as hundreds of homes in the city were waterlogged after only an hour of rain.

The corporation had set June 2 as the deadline to complete nullah cleaning work. Though they were cleaned, workers had left the silt along the nullahs. Rain water mixed with silt and flowed into the houses at Vartak Nagar, Wagale Estate, Lokmanya Nagar and Naupada. The residents of Mhada Colony in Vartak Nagar stayed up the entire night to remove mud and muck from their homes after the rains. The road outside the Mhada Colony was covered in silt on Tuesday morning. Residents said incomplete nullah cleaning work caused flooding. Nagraj Joshi, a resident of old Mhada Colony, said his house was flooded with muck, mud, plastic and debris after the rain. “I have a catering business and we lost most of our belongings and food stock as there was knee-deep water in the house,” said Joshi. The city received 75 mm of rainfall on Monday night. The city saw waterlogging at 13 spots. Twenty-six trees fell during the thunderstorm and heavy showers. No one was injured.

The new and old Mhada Colony in Vartak Nagar was also waterlogged. Most residents had to move out of their homes late at night. Milind Gaikwad, a resident of Samata Nagar, said, “Nullahs were not cleaned properly and this caused waterlogging. Though the TMC cleaned the nullahs, the silt has been lying beside the nullahs for the past seven days. The silt flowed back into the nullah when it started raining and choked it.” Around 60 houses at Chikhalwadi in Naupada were flooded.

Charusheela Pandit, assistant municipal commissioner of TMC, said, “I have directed employees to clean areas covered with muck and silt. We have undertaken the work of cleaning three culverts at Vartak Nagar and this must have restricted the flow of nullah water. A ramp was built on the nullah for an excavator to enter it for cleaning. Mud must have entered people’s home and not silt.”

First Published:
Jun 12, 2019 05:30 IST

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