Ground report from Vasai: Incessant rain hits life

For people in the Vasai-Virar belt, which is nearly 50 to 60 km away from downtown Mumbai, it was life without electricity and water for nearly two days.

There was confusion, chaos, dismay and helplessness, but what was alive is whats often referred to as the 'Spirit of Mumbai'.

Since there was no power, water could not be pumped to the overhead tanks of housing societies.

On Wednesday, after five days of rain, which recorded as much as 700 to 800 mm of rainfall, in the urban conglomeration belt comprising Naigaum, Vasai, Nalasopara and Virar, there was some relief from the rain god.

However, on ground the situation in this part of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) was different.

By evening, power supply was restored partially and trains started moving.

Railway tracks along the Vasai-Virar stretch, particularly at Nalasopara were flooded, and slimline services were run by the Western Railway, that too with cautionary limits and precautions.

"The tracks are flooded for two days now," said Samar Patel, a resident of Shanti Lifespace Complex off the Link Road, from whose sixth-floor
flat, the tracks could be seen.

"It looks like as if it is Arabian Sea," he said, pointing out at some small hamlets which are still isolated.

"People are facing troubles...there is no power for over 36 hours now, since there is no power, water could not be pumped up in tanks except for societies that have generators, no power means there is no TV and we don't know what exactly is happening... the spare power in invertors have been consumed. The charge in cell phones and power banks are exhausted," said Manas Bose, an entertainment media professional, who is a resident of Evershine City.

"The shops are closed. In several shops, water has gushed in. The ATMs have gone dry. Since lifts are not working, senior citizen face severe problems," said JP Sharma, a local resident of the Vasai-Nalasopara area, who is also involved in social work.

"During the 26 July, 2005, deluge, Vasai has not seen this kind of a problem....this time, water just stayed there long and did not recede as it used to... that created most of the problems," said Gautam Chatterjee, who works with the Railways.

Revelry

The FIFA World Cup's final phases and India's cricket tour of England added revelry with schoolboys seen playing football and cricket.

The schools and colleges in the Vasai-Virar belt were shut and many could not go to their workplaces.

"I have never experienced this kind of a problem ever in Vasai," said Kaustubh Dhamane, a college student.

Vegetable prices soar

With short supply, vegetable prices have touched the roof.

"Very few shops are open. And the prices of whatever available has touched the roof," said Tista Bhowmick, a homemaker.

"Fresh milk is not available. Making tea or coffee is a problem," she added.

Fast bucks

With the rain lashing the area, the Vada-pav centers are making fast bucks.

"My business has doubled in the last two days," said Mangla Mishra of Shree Sharda vada-pav stall, one of the most popular joints.

"Being two days of disruption people came on the road to enjoy the day despite the problem. And, vada pav needs no occasion," he smiles and delivers a packet to a customer.

Vehicle repair

There is a long wait at vehicle repair centres as several of the scooters, bikes, cars and SUVs have broken down after being submerged for several hours.

"Both, cars and bikes of several people are down," said tour-operator Kiran Bhoir, a resident of Virar suburbs.

Navy rescues passengers

The Navys' Western Naval Command on Tuesday night, helped evacuate train commuters stranded at Nalasopara station due to flooding of railway tracks.

Based on a request from the Western Railway, the Navy deployed high chassis vehicles that could traverse the flooded areas and reach the stranded commuters.

The Western Naval Command has been maintaining rescue teams and emergency equipment to provide assistance to Mumbaikars in case of emergency.

Commuters stop train

A group of 150 to 200 commuters stopped the 19028 Up Jammu Tawi-Bandra Vivek Express at the Umroli station in Palghar district, nearly 120 km from downtown Mumbai.

They were furious that no mail or express trains were halting, which could take them their workplaces in Mumbai.

Ravinder Bhakar, CPRO, Western Railway, said they accepted the demands of the commuters and allowed besides the Vivek Express, 19042 Up Ghazipur Bandra Express, and 19020 Up Dehradun Bandra express to halt at Umroli till Virar station, until the situation gets normal.

Satara gets good rainfall

The British-era hill station of Mahabaleshwar and the Koyna Dam area of the Satara district of Western Maharashtra has been receiving good rainfall since the last few days.

According to information collated from the Regional Meteorological Centre of the IMD, in the last 36 hours, the Mahabaleshwar-Koyna region has received over 150 mm rainfall.

Other districts that notched appreciable rains are: Gadchiroli 45.8 mm, Yavatmal 40.3 mm in Vidarbha region and and Ratnagiri 36.2 mm in Konkan coastal belt.

Ahmednagar, Dhule, Nandurbar in North Maharashtra besides Aurangabad, Jalna, Osmanabad in Marathwada were dry with zero rains.

The 26 July, 2005 deluge

The deluge of July 26, 2005 is one of the worst incident that Mumbai has ever witnessed.

Mumbai and the MMR, which is spread over 600 sq km could not withstand the pressure of nearly 944.2 mm rainfall in 24 hours.

A high tide accompanied by rainfall following a cloudburst had left over 500 dead and lakhs homeless in Mumbai and neighbouring Thane and Raigad districts.

The rail, road and air traffic came to a standstill for 2 days. The total loss was estimated to be Rs 2,000 crore.