PANJIM: The unseasonal rain has caused a lot of disruption to shack owners, who have only recently put up their shacks across the coastal belt.
Shack owners lamented that the rainfall in the month of October had also caused a delay in their plans to erect the shacks and that lately, there have been occasions where the water levels have almost reached their shacks during high tide.
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“We had planned an activity on Sunday for our guests, be it locals or tourists but we were unprepared for the rainfall that occurred in the evening. We still managed to salvage that event somehow as we had publicised the same and we had a lot of guests but some gave it a miss due to the rains. However, on the next day on Monday, it rained so much that it affected our furniture and set up,” said Mario Fernandes, a shack owner from Salcete.
Cruz Cardozo, President of the Shack Owners Welfare Society, said that the unpredicted rainfall had dampened their spirits as it had led to a direct decrease in the number of tourists visiting their shacks. He hoped for the weather to improve and pointed out that the shack industry has already been dealing with various issues such as the pandemic and lack of international tourists visiting the State.
“With the rains, tourists and even our usual customers don’t feel like coming to the shacks. Families who have young children prefer to go to an indoors location if they go out. Besides the guests, we have to also be careful about our electrical connections. I recall how it had rained suddenly last year and our speakers got damaged,” said Jay Kamat, another shack owner.
A musician added a scheduled programme at a shack was postponed due to the rains. He added that the rain affected other places too like a wedding he was performing at, which took place in an outdoor venue but everything had to be shifted at the last moment to a covered portion of the wedding hall.
