At least three people were killed as heavy rain pelted Goa, causing landslides and wall collapses in parts of the state.
In Sattari taluka, over 150 people — both locals and tourists — were stranded at Pali waterfall in Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary after heavy rain caused water levels to rise.
Advertisement“All 150 stranded people at Pali had been rescued with the help of forest, police and locals of Pali,” North Goa SP Akshat Kaushal said in a statement.
A red alert has been issued predicting “heavy to very heavy rainfall” with strong surface winds in Goa Sunday.
AdvertisementA portion of Mala district court Altinho road in North Goa caved in and was closed for vehicular traffic, while Paroda-Quepem bridge in South Goa was submerged, traffic police said.
At least three people were killed as heavy rain pelted Goa, causing landslides and wall collapses in parts of the state. Meanwhile, authorities rescued 150 people stranded at a popular waterfall in North Goa’s Sattari.
According to the police, three labourers employed with an engineering project died after a retaining wall collapsed trapping them in North Goa’s Kundaim. One worker also suffered injuries in the incident. The deceased have been identified as Dilip Yadav (37), Mukesh Kumar Singh (38) and Trinath Nayak (47).
In Sattari taluka, over 150 people — both locals and tourists — were stranded at Pali waterfall in Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary after heavy rain caused water levels to rise. The rescue operation lasted four hours.
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“All 150 stranded people at Pali had been rescued with the help of forest, police and locals of Pali,” North Goa SP Akshat Kaushal said in a statement.
According to one forest department official, visitors were stranded in 3-4 patches at the waterfall.
“The water levels had gone up due to the rain and it cut off the people since they were unable to cross a stream. A combing operation was conducted and everyone was safely rescued by 6.30 pm. A majority of those stranded were from different parts of the state,” said the official.
Pali has been designated as a “low-risk” waterfall trail, where trekking is permitted but swimming is not allowed.
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After the incident, the state forest department announced it was closing access to all waterfalls in the state for a week until there’s some let up in the rain.
Meanwhile, the directorate of education declared that schools will remain closed Monday.
The India Meteorological Department has warned of the possibility of a “moderate flash flood risk” in coastal Karnataka and Goa over the next 24 hours. A red alert has been issued predicting “heavy to very heavy rainfall” with strong surface winds in Goa Sunday. The state capital Panaji received over 115 mm of rainfall in over six hours Sunday morning.
As rain pummeled the state, a landslide was reported at Connem Priol on the national highway, following which traffic was diverted from Farmagudi to Mardol and block clearing work was initiated. The stretch was cleared by traffic police around 4 pm. A retaining wall collapsed on national highway 66 on Naibag-Pernem stretch.
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A portion of Mala district court Altinho road in North Goa caved in and was closed for vehicular traffic, while Paroda-Quepem bridge in South Goa was submerged, traffic police said.
Significantly, the state’s forest department had earlier banned entry to waterfalls in the state in June after a few incidents of drownings were reported in waterfalls and abandoned stone quarries. The ban was eventually partially lifted to allow access to low-risk waterfalls like Pali after criticism from the state’s tourism minister Rohan Khaunte, who saw the move as damaging to tourism as well as local businesses.
