Team Herald

COLVALE: Villagers from Colvale say that have been without power for the last 48 hours after parts of Bardez and other talukas witnessed a squall that caused damage and destruction on Monday afternoon.

Revora, Thivim, Mapusa, Colvale, Siolim, Assagao, Sirsaim and several other areas of Bardez were battered by rains and high-velocity winds. Many trees were toppled by the squall; some of them crashed on roads blocking the traffic for hours.

An official at the Electricity Department said that they had multiple problems to attend to after the Monday’s incident, due to which restoration of power to certain areas in Bardez, especially to Colvale, was delayed. Besides, several branches and trees fell on the electricity wires causing them to snap.

However, a Colvale resident complained that the electricity department does not even have proper equipment to deal with the situation. “It does not have emergency lights to carry out the repairs work; the linesmen were using mobile torches to fix the problem,” she said.

“Power supply was restored in most of the wards of Colvale on Wednesday at 1.30 pm while two other wards received supply by 7.30 pm. Even on Thursday we faced frequent power cuts; for instance, between 10 am and 11.30 am thrice power was cut,” she said.

The personnel from the Mapusa Fire station were on their toes responding to over 100 emergency calls since 3 pm on Monday.