Mumbai Rains: Heavy showers continue to lash Thane; thousands marooned

THANE/ MUMBAI: Incessant rains for the second day in a row wreaked havoc in Thane district, cutting off several low lying areas, leaving thousands of people marooned.

According to district authorities, parts of many areas like Bhiwandi, Kopri, Naupada, Bhayander, Dahanu and Kalyan were completely inundated owing to continous downpour during the last 48 hours.

About 10,000 people were marooned by flood waters in these areas and are being shifted to safer places, they said.

Also, non-stop rains have wrecked roads in the district leading to heavy disruption in vehicular traffic on the Bombay-Ahmedabad road.

The Palghar police station in the western belt of Thane district was totally flooded, damaging various records. Other adjacent police stations including the one in Manor area was also cut off, making it difficult for policemen to operate.

In Tarapur area, a Primary Health Centre and quarters of the medical officer came under water following which affected health workers and patients were shifted to nearby , officials from the district disaster control room.

In Mira-Bhayander, a portion of an old building collapsed this morning after heavy showers. However, there was no loss of life, police said.

In Maswan, a MSRTC bus carrying passengers got stuck in the flood waters of Surya river last evening leaving 30 passengers stranded for many hours, authorities said.

They were later rescued in the wee hours today, police said.

Thousands of people staying on the banks of rivers Surya, Vaitarna and Daherja in Palghar taluka have been alerted and asked to shift to safer shelters, police said.

In Mumbai, heavy rains continued overnight throwing normal life out of gear, flooding streets and stalling traffic.

Waterlogging was reported in western suburbs of Malad, Kandivali and Jogeshwari.