The Dayanand Bandodkar Marg and 18 June Road which are major roads in Panjim were flooded for hours. Water receded later in the evening after the rainfall subsided.
Heavy traffic congestion was observed across Panjim as many roads were inundated or blocked due to the uprooting of trees. The overflowing St Inez creek flooded many roads in the suburbs of the Capital while the newly built Miramar-Dona-Paula road was also flooded with the locals slamming the authorities over the failure to construct a proper drainage system before going ahead with the concretisation.
Following the heavy downpour, the compound wall of Police quarters at Altinho collapsed whereas there were complaints of water entering the houses in Mala. Teams of workers from the Corporation of the City of Panaji (CCP) had been sent to clear the water-logged areas.
Residents expressing dissatisfaction said that despite the CCP claiming it had cleaned the drains during the pre-monsoon works; the Capital city continues to suffer from the flooding.
“The authorities should clean the age-old drains which are choked up. The CCP cleans the drains as a part of the pre-monsoon work but later the same problems occurs because people just throw away the bottles and other stuff on the roads,” said Mihir Joshi a resident of Panjim
Further shop owners based on 18 June road said that if the rains continue, the flooding will worsen and water entering the shops could damage products leading to losses.
“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.” said a shop owner on the condition of anonymity.
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.
Students on their way to Peoples High School were completely drenched.
SALCETE NO BETTER
People of Salcete woke up to a heavy downpour which had continued since the previous night. The highway near Maharaja Hotel in Verna was waterlogged. Even parts of Loutolim, Calata and Nuvem faced the problem of waterlogging due to non-maintenance of drains. Herald spoke to the local MLA Wilfred D’sa who informed us that he had to hire labourers and take them around the waterlogged areas to open up the drains.
Herald travelled along the roads of Utorda, Betalbatim, Colva, and western Benaulim but there was no sign of major water logging on the roads or in the fields. The impact was the heavy downpour was felt most at Fatorda, Seraulim, Madel, Mungul, Khareband. The water levels on the newly expanded roads along the Damodar Temple had risen by to around a foot high. Waters entered a chapel opposite the Borkar’s super market. Parts of Murida, Fatorda was also flooded. The newly constructed joggers track and the open field opposite the stadium was inundated with water.
The highway junction near the new Presentation Convent was flooded. Farmers who had just cultivated their crops in Dovondem, Madel and other areas lost their crop as the water level rose above the hight of the recently cultivated saplings. A car had gone off the Nuvem Arlem bypass late at night on Wednesday. The Arlem junction experienced its annual flood.
In Nuvem, the fields along the western bypass near the Panchayat house was inundated with water. Herald spoke to the Sarpanch who said the panchayat would be meeting to assess the situation.
At Kareband, locals informed that the flow of water had changed due to land filling activates at the northern side of Khareband bridge. Water hyacinth had clogged the small lakes and even the river, severely obstructing the flow of water.
In Dramapur Sirlim, the area west of the Highway at Jakniband was flooded. WRD reading showed that the river in Cuncolim and Avdem had breached the danger level at 5.62 and 4.71 meters, respectively. Paroda experienced severe flooding.
Herald spoke to locals who claim that the two major causes of the flooding this year are the blockages along river Sal and the construction of the western bypass. The fact that most of the flooding is concentrated around the western bypass site substantiates this claim.
