Schools ordered to remain shut; fire brigade rescues 21 people in Virar from getting washed away in floods
Palghar : Over 21 people were rescued from Chandip, Virar east, on Tuesday morning by the Vasai Fire Brigade team as they were stuck in floods due to heavy downpour which lashed the entire Palghar district. It was a timely distress call to the fire brigade team by the local Bahujan Vikas Aghadi (BVA) corporator Sudesh Chaudhari which saved the lives of these 21 people, 18 men and 3 women. These people were workers employed at the nearby sand evacuation site and were in trouble before they could sense any emergency.
Vijay Rane, a fire officer stationed at Achole, Vasai east, said that, “We dispatched a team of 7 men along with a rescue boat to the location where people were stuck after the distress call by Chaudhari. We took 3 rounds to rescue them and all are safe.”
The fire brigade also confirmed that they did receive a few more distress calls but the situation was under control. On one such occasion in Khaniwade, Virar east, the locals only rescued 5 people from getting washed away in floods instead of waiting for the fire brigade to arrive. Villages like Chandip, Navsai, Khaniwade, Usgaon, Shiravali, Bhatane, Parol etc, which are home to around 30,000 people, are always under the flood threat every monsoon.
Heavy rain also hit life of people in Vasai Taluka as a lot of locations were flooded while water had entered a few ground floor flats in Nalasopara societies in Tulinj. The situation in Palghar was also not that rosy as the government officials ordered the schools to remain shut to avoid parents and students to get stuck in floods. Rail routes towards Gujarat were also suspended temporarily as tracks went under water at couple of locations and at one spot the sand holding the tracks had washed away and were restored only when the water level receded.
Vishal Rajemahadik
