Heavy rain traps 80 in Thane resort

An overflowing Vaitarna river floods the resort near it, threatening its guests and staff; owner says he hadn't been informed; CM says rescue boats have been sent out

The relentless rains laid siege to a resort at Manor in Palghar taluka in Thane yesterday, terrorising around 80 people trapped there.u00a0


Nature's fury: The Silent Hills resort is built on the banks of Vaitarna
river in Manor, Thane district

Twenty chartered accountants, two families, and a staff of 50 people are stuck at Silent Hills resort, which is close to the Vaitarna river, which started flooding last morning, closing in on the resort with its water.

While the hotel staff and the CAs said they were safe, by 10 pm, the water had spilled on to the ground floor of the ground-plus-one structure.

Jaideep Sahasrahbuddhe, a member of the Western Regional Council of India of Chartered Accountants, who is stuck in the resort, said over the phone, "The water has reached the brim of the ground floor. But we are in safe hands. The hotel management is doing what it can to help us."

Winfred Lobo, general manager of the resort, said, "A team of CAs from Thane and a couple of families from Mumbai are staying with us. We had asked the CAs to leave in the morning but they took their own sweet time in having breakfast. By the time they were ready to leave, the flooding began."

Lobo grumbled further, "The Thane tehsildar did not inform us of the high tide. The information came to us too late. Families stuck here have panicked, but we are taking care of them. Food and water is being served to them by our staff, who are also stuck. We hope the 11 pm high tide does not worsen the situation," he said.

However, tehsildar Surendra Navle said, "We had informed the resort in the morning itself, asking it to evacuate the guests. We even sent our men there. However, at 8 pm, when things turned worse, the resort called us, saying that people needed help. But it was too late, as it had turned dark. Moreover, it's high tide at 11 pm and if it continues raining, it would be difficult for us to rescue them."

He continued, "We have asked for boats from the BMC, and at 10 pm, they left from Mumbai. We expect them to reach here within two-and-a-half hours. Other than the resort, we have lost contact with Manor village, as the roads leading to it have been submerged. We can't reach them with help at this hour," said Navle.

VT Pawar, police inspector of Manor police station where the resort is, said,u00a0 "The resort is in a low-lying area. Taking a boat there is not possible because of darkness."

In control room
Around 8:45 pm, two Mumbaikars, Rahul and Jaya Jain, called the state control room asking for help when the water reached the ground floor of the resort building.

"They called us to inform us of the rising water level. We immediately alerted the tehsildar, who reached the spot.u00a0 We don't have rescue boats and we have asked the BMC to help us with boats," said Satish Patil, an officer at the control room.

While the state control room informed MiD DAY that upper Vaitarna had overflown and 198.21 MLD had been discharged from the dam, the Modak Sagar was also spilling. The BMC and the Vasai-Vihar Mahanagar Palika have been requested to send rescue boats.

Meanwhile, 400 people were shifted from their houses that were flooded in Govindwadi in Kalyan to a municipal school by civic officials.