Sunday rain spells nightmare for Pune

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The Disaster Management department of PMC received complaints of trees falling at various places across the city.

In some parts of the city, rainwater gushed into residences in low-lying areas, making residents look for a safer place.

The residents of the houses in Sinhagad Road area were seen cleaning their places on Monday morning. “We failed to understand how the water entered into our premises, last evening,” said Suresh Patil, a resident of Vadgaon Budhruk.

In the subway near the district collectorate, drainage lines got blocked and there was massive waterlogging. Water gushed into the shops in the subway and damaged properties. Mud was spread all over the subway. The shopowners were struggling to clean the area Monday.

“We are paying rent to PMC and it is its responsibility to keep the stormwater drainage clean. There has been damage to our properties in the shops and the civic staff did not even try to get the place cleaned. The entire subway was cleaned by us,” said a shopkeeper.

A bridge on Ambilodha near Nilayam theatre was damaged due to heavy rainfall. One of its pillars suffered damage. Tree branches were found lying on the footpath, and till afternoon, the PMC staff had not removed these. A big tree fell on the footpath in the Erandwane area near Rajaram bridge and it was not removed till Monday evening.

According to staff of the disaster management cell, the senior civic officers were kept on alert after the rainfall. “We were directed by additional municipal commissioner Omprakash Bakoria to call up all ward officers and keep them on alert,” an official said, adding, the disaster management cell had been asked to keep a track of the complaints.

He added that the city would likely witness more thundershowers as the monsoon retrieval continued. “Anyone on duty also keeps a watch on the CCTV footage in the control room. It gives live pictures of the condition on the city roads.”