Heat leads to eruption of arterial road in Sewri
The junction of the road protruded upwards and developed fissures on the surface. The paver blocks laded at the junction of the road ruptured pushing the rubble beneath the road outside at 12.56pm.
In a peculiar incident, a portion of the arterial Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Road in Sewri erupted and bulged out on Wednesday afternoon.
The junction of the road protruded upwards and developed fissures on the surface. The paver blocks laded at the junction of the road ruptured pushing the rubble beneath the road outside at 12.56pm.
The sand and the masonry below the ground exploded out. Fortunately, no injuries were reported in the incident.
“The road surface at the junction was jolting for over 10 minutes. Seeing the tremors people feared an earthquake and evacuated the place,” said Vijay Jain. “I parked my vehicle and rushed to call the traffic policemen. When we returned the road surface had already erupted,” he added.
The Seismology Department under the India Meteorological Department ruled out possibility of earthquake. “The explosion has not occurred due to seismic waves. No such probability is seen in areas adjoining Gujarat and Maharashtra,” said an official from Seismology department.
So far road collapses have led to cave-ins but for the first time the surface was swelled out and developed cracks. Officials state the incident occurred due to soaring mercury level and air pressure.
“The blocks had developed gaps between them. The temperature in the noon was hovering near 38 degree Celsius. Due to repeated heavy vehicles passing over the surface increased the air pressure. The explosion and the bulging of the road surface can be attributed to this widening gap in the air pressure above and below the ground surface,” said a senior civic official inspecting the incident.
The paver blocks were laid at the junction in 2005 were supposed to be replaced in 2010. The officials from the road department sited that the incident would have not happened if the gaps between them had not developed.
Officials from both BEST and BMC inspected the road. Several high tension electricity cables of BEST and private companies run below the surface.
The authorities from the BEST refuted any damage in their electricity cables. “The electricity supply in the area is not been disrupted. The incident has not occurred due to our utilities as the cables are intact,” BEST officials maintained.