PANJIM: Tuesday evening turned out to be the month’s wettest day of the year as heavy rains led to flooding in certain areas of Panjim. The 18th June road was the worst affected with water entering some of the business establishments.
Shop owners said that if the rains continue, the flooding would worsen and water entering the shops could damage products leading to losses.
A shop owner said, “It’s the same story every year. The minute it starts to pour heavily it causes flooding and CCP is not taking any steps to prevent such flooding.”
Locals told Herald that the main reason for the flooding on 18th June Road is the failure of CCP to keep the drains clean — plastic and other garbage in the drains lead to water logging.
Jose D’Silva, a resident of Panjim said, “The plastic waste strewn on the roadside blocks the gutters. The authorities should regularly clean the gutters during the rains.”
“The same area has been flooding following heavy rain, but no action has been taken by the authorities,” Vikram Govekar, another resident, said.
Locals also complained of traffic congestion on the road following the heavy rain.
“The city experienced sudden heavy spells of rainfall which led to flooding of roads,” said Ameya Gurav, another local.
Nikhil Arora, a tourist said, “This is mini-Mumbai, never expected that such rains would cause flooding in a small city like Panjim.”
Efforts to contact the Panjim Mayor were fruitless as the phone number was out of coverage area.
The State has received heavy showers in the last two days, with the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) recording 32.4 mm of rainfall in the State in the last 24 hours. “Light to moderate rain is likely to occur at most places in Goa for the next four days,” IMD has forecast.
In the past 24 hours Canacona has received 6 cm rain – the highest – followed by Panjim, Old Goa and Valpoi with 3 cm each, while, Ponda, Dabolim recorded 2 cm each and Sanquelim and Mormugao have recorded 1 cm of rain.
Normal life was slightly affected due to the sudden heavy showers accompanied by thunder.
