Divar, Chorao hit by rising water levels

Panaji: The increase in

rainfall

on Friday left the Mandovi river swollen and as a result, the islanders from Divar and Chorao were left with inundated fields and roads.

“The inundation is an annual monsoon problem in Divar, especially during the high tide. However, this time, it had been continuously raining for the past three days to add to which

water

from the Anjunem dam was released on Friday which badly affected our island,” Sao Mathias sarpanch Mohan Volvoikar said.

Sources said that there are two breaches on the bunds in Malar, Divar, that also contributed to the inundation. “The water was almost overflowing into the mainland. This would not have been the case had the repair works been taken up responsibly,” a Divar-resident said.

Even the ferry services were disrupted for a few hours following the rise in water level. Some of the Chorao residents who had left for work before 9am managed to leave safely while the rest were stuck on the island after the swollen river’s water rose the ferry ramp.

“The roads in Chorao were so flooded that the access to the Chorao ferry pick up was blocked for a while,” said Chorao-resident, Joe Rodrigues.

Captain of ports had deployed its services to help the disaster management force at all the rivers across Goa. Captain James Braganza said that the ferry services had to be temporarily shut off for safety reasons, especially during the high tide. “All the rivers were swollen. Neither the vehicles or commuters would be able to embark or disembark the vessel in such a situation.” he said.