Heavy rains lash Goa

Heavy rains Wednesday lashed Goa, throwing the normal life out of gear at many places.

A senior India Meteorological Department (IMD) officer said heavy rains will continue for the next three days with the south-west monsoon setting in completely over the coastal state.

In Panaji, the continuous downpour since the morning led to a huge traffic jam on the Panaji-Margao highway due to accumulation of water.

Heavy rains are also witnessed in south Goa and north Goa districts.

The arrival of south-west monsoon got delayed by nearly a fortnight in Goa this year. With today's showers, the sluggish monsoon seems to be gathering strength.

"We have taken adequate pre-monsoon measures but there are some spots where one cannot stop flooding. We have adopted long-term measures to tackle such situations," Uday Madkaikar, Mayor, Corporation of City of Panaji (CCP), told PTI.

He said adequate measures were taken to ensure that the common people are not inconvenienced.

However, former Panaji MLA Siddharth Kunkolienkar said the CCP had done a shoddy work because of which areas around Miramar beach were flooded.

"The poor pre-monsoon planning of the CCP is responsible for this situation," he said.