TEAM HERALD
teamherald@herald-goa.com
PONDA/MARGAO: Rains accompanied by gusty winds wreaked havoc in several parts of the State uprooting trees, damaging several houses and bringing traffic to a halt along the NH-17 at Cuncolim, on Thursday night.
One woman was injured while some houses were partially damaged and a number of trees were uprooted in Kavalem village of Ponda taluka.
While several trees were uprooted and damaged houses in Ward 5 of Kavalem, a tree fell on one house and the rafter came crashing down on a woman.
“The woman injured has been shifted to the Ponda Sub District Hospital,” Kavalem Sarpanch Rajesh Kavlekar informed.
The incident also resulted in disruption of electricity supply in the area.
“The exact damage caused by the strong winds will be known only on Friday morning. Even in Ward 3, we have been informed that two houses were damaged after trees fell on them. Fire personnel from Ponda are busy clearing the trees and work to clear the road is in progress,” Kavlekar added.
In South Goa, trees came crashing down on the NH-17 highway in the Demani area of Cuncolim.
The authorities immediately moved in by diverting traffic on the highway at Balli and Panzorconne, while the fire services rushed in to clear the huge trees lying on the road.
Cuncolim police said that two trees came down on the highway at Demani, blocking all traffic on the highway. The entire Demani area was also plunged into darkness as uprooted trees damaged electric poles and wires.
Police said there were reports of trees crashing on the houses, but there was no report any humans injured in the incident.
When contacted, fire services informed that a tender from Margao and Canacona had left for Cuncolim to clear the blockade on the highway.
Meanwhile, Margao fire brigade rushed to Benaulim following a call that a banyan tree had crashed on a residential house.
