Heavy rain leaves 7 dead in Palghar, Thane, Raigad

On Monday, five of a family, including a couple and their three children aged between three and 12, were killed after a landslide destroyed their house in the Kalwa area in Thane city. The couple’s two other daughters were also injured in the mishap. Four other houses in the area were also damaged.

Around 11 am, the Thane Regional Disaster Management Cell (RDMC) said, a portion of Gholai Nagar hill came crashing down on the Durga Chawl in the Gholai Nagar area in Kalwa east.

The slum settlement is located at foothill. Kalwa police officials, teams from the RDMC, TDRF and the fire brigade carried out rescue operations, and managed to pull out seven persons.

While Prabhu Sudam Yadav (45), his wife Vidhavatidevi Prabhu (40) and their children Ravikishan Yadav (12), Simran Yadav (10) and Sandhya Yadav (3) died in the incident. Five-year-old Preeti and Achal Yadav (18) were the only two survivors of their family and were shifted to the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Hospital in Kalwa for treatment.

“Prabhusudam Yadav was working as a security guard and he would be at his workplace from Monday to Friday. He came back only on weekends. This Friday, he returned home to be with his family till Sunday. He was supposed to go back to work Monday but due to the rain he stayed back,” a neighbour said.

As a precautionary measure, 40 to 50 families in the settlement have been shifted to TMC School of Gholai Nagar. Several people who were stranded at the accident site due to waterlogging were evacuated by the firemen using boats.

In separate other incidents, three children drowned in open nullahs in Palghar’s Nallasopara, Mira Road and Ulhas Nagar in Thane district. A four-year-old boy drowned in an open nullah in Bilalpada of Santosh Bhavan area in Nallasopara east Sunday afternoon. He was playing outside his house when he fell into the nullah. The boy is yet to be found and the search operation was on till Monday evening.

Abdul Abu Rehman (9) from Munshi Compound is also feared to have drowned in an open nullah on Mira Road.

In Ulhasnagar, a four-year-old boy died after being swept away in an open nullah outside his house Sunday night. The boy, Rudra Bablu Gupta, was a resident of the Shantinagar Gaubai Pada area of Ulhasnagar Camp-3.

In another incident, a body of an unidentified man was found in Nagla Bandar in Thane (west). The Kasarvadavli police has registered an accidental death report in the matter.

Meanwhile, 136.83 mm rainfall was recorded Monday until 8.30 pm. Officials said there was waterlogging at 33 locations in Thane city and some parts of neighbouring Mumbra, Bhiwandi and Kalyan townships Monday. There were also 15 tree fall incidents and six landslide and wall collapse incidents.

In the neighbouring Raigad district, five persons were reported missing in rain-related incidents. Suresh Haresh Koli (42), the president of Medadi village, went missing after his boat capsized while he was out fishing in the creek. In another incident, Pramod Jagan Joshi (26), of Devpada village in Karjat, was swept away in the Poshir river. A search operation was underway by the local administration. Deepak Gambhir Singh Thakur (24) of Kalamboli was also reported missing while swimming at Pali Budruk Dam in Poyanje village.

In Khalapur taluka of Raigad district, two siblings — Nilambha Srikant Hanchalikar (7) and Babu Shrikant Hanchalikar (3) — were swept away in the Patalganga river basin Monday evening. The local administration has launched a search operation.

“Houses in various low-lying areas such as Tambadshet, Durshet, and Jite in Pen taluka of the district have been damaged due to waterlogging. Twenty families from Balwali-Durshet village in Pen taluka have been relocated to safer places. Eighty persons from Mauje Chunabhatti, Tal, and Pen have been shifted to safer places,” said Nidhi Chowdhury, Raigad district collector.