Thane residents get cautious after 'July 26-like' rains on Sunday

Torrential rains of Sunday made Thanekars come out with caution on Monday. Those whose residences were flooded took the efforts to save their furniture, while some left early for work to beat any possible commute problems.

On July 31, Rakesh Pednekar's ground floor apartment at Sahyadri society in Kalwa was flooded with rain water. "This is the first time after the deluge of July 26, 2005 that Thane witnessed such heavy rainfall on Sunday," said Pednekar. The water inside his apartment rendered his refrigerator and inverter dysfunctional and the electrical wiring was also affected. "On Monday, we took all our furniture and other belongings on to the first floor," he added.

Heavy rainfall also affected the areas of Vartaknagar and Hirnanandani. Many people had to walk down from Teen Hath Naka to Hiranandani as there was heavy water logging coupled with traffic jam on the roads. "So, today I took a rickshaw rather than taking my own car. But thankfully, the traffic situation was much better," said Anil Patil, a Naupada resident.

Even the shopkeepers were badly affected by water logging and had to lift all their wares and keep them on tables. "There was one foot water in my shop yesterday, which destroyed all the food grain bags kept on the floor. So I kept them up on the table today to avoid more such losses," said Bharat Shah, who owns a general store at Kharkar Ali near Jambhalinaka in Thane (West).

Not only water logging but even commute was on the minds of a lot commuters on Monday. Hence, people like Pradeep Kapoor from Ulhasnagar took an early train on Monday for his workplace in Parel. "Since it has been raining incessantly from yesterday, I i left home at 6.30am and reached office on time," said Kapoor. "I heard there was a derailment and after that and many of my colleagues got stuck and reached late," he added.