Rains cause havoc, claim seven lives

Mumbai: Seven persons died in rain related accidents across the state as heavy rains continued to pour on Saturday,

According to the officials of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), 39 incidents of short circuit, 104 incidents of uprooting of trees or falling of tree branches were reported from various parts of the city. In Thane district, two people died of electrocution in separate incidents caused by incessant rains on late Friday night.

Nagesh Nirange (46), died after a live wire fell over him as an uprooted tree snapped the electricity line in Rabodi area in Thane, the officials said.

In another incident that occurred in Ambernath, a 22-year-old Vishnu Sola-nki, a rickshaw driver, was standing near an auto rickshaw stand outside the railway station died of an electric shock. Due to heavy rains, a tree fell over the power cables that then crashed on a tin shed where Solanki happened to be standing, the officials said adding that four rickshaws were damaged in the accident. Bodies of the victims were sent for post-mortem and the police, in both the incidents, registered cases of accidental death.

Furthermore, two people died on Saturday after being struck by lightning in separate incidents in state’s Buldhana district, police said. While Shrikrishna Dhabal (69) was struck by a lightning bolt while working in his field in Sangrampur taluka, farm labourer Yuvraj Gavande (35) died in a similar manner in Jastgaon villege.

Three people, including two teenagers, died in lightning strikes in Jharkhan’s Gumla district during heavy rains on Friday evening.

At midnight on Friday, a wall of a house in Bhim Seva Sangh Chawl near Deonar Abattoir in Govandi collapsed injuring two and damaging a few rikshaws parked on the road. The disaster management unit informed that the two victims Lakhan Thakur (18) and Ramesh Lokhande (30) suffered minor injuries in the incident and were taken to Shatabdi Hospital for treatment.

In another incident in Ghatkopar (west), a retaining wall of Ekveera Darshan society near metro station collapsed at around 10 am. The wall collapse damaged five to six cars parked on the road injuring none. In another incident of wall collapse, a part of a dilapidated building in Kurla (west) collapsed injuring none.

Heavy rains led to incidents of tree collapse in various parts of the city damaging a few cars, the officials said.

The retaining wall of a nullah on Ambedkar Road in the city collapsed on Saturday morning. However, none were injured in the accident, the officials said.