Rain brings Goa to a standstill, supplies likely to be impacted

With heavy flooding and rising water levels across the state, the Pramod Sawant government declared a holiday for all schools on Wednesday. Sawant said, “The situation will be reviewed again and a decision made. We have been informed that the rains will continue for three more days.”

Goa and Karnataka are connected by three main supply routes. Two landslides were reported on the Chorla Ghats route, and though the route was opened by Tuesday evening, traffic was reduced to a crawl.

“On Monday night, we got an alert of few boulders falling on the Ghats. Currently entire machinery is monitoring the ghats to check any such repeat as there are many boulders and with the water pressure they could pose a problem. The police, and PWD department and Fire and Emergency Services have been pressed to action,” said Ashok Menon, director of Goa’s Fire and Emergency Services.

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The second route, through the Anmod Ghats, has been inaccessible for heavy trucks due to the ongoing road widening project there. Miguel Braganza, the chairperson of the Goa Chamber of Commerce and Industry Committee on Agriculture, said, “We had Amod Ghats as an option earlier, but that too has been inaccessible for heavy trucks due to the road widening work for highway that is in full swing.”

Traffic on the Amboli route, via Sawantwadi, Maharashtra, was also affected due to heavy waterlogging.

The full impact of the traffic situation will be felt later this week as Goa gets most of its supplies — vegetables, fish and milk — from markets in Belgaum.

Meanwhile, areas across Goa reported flooding, with the fire department rescuing stranded families. “Earlier in the day, Ghadiwadi, Amona, was flooded… The fire personnel shifted the people and their belongings to safer places…,” said Menon.