PANAJI
With flooding rendering several stretches unmotorable and the possibility of landslides making the drive back fraught with danger, visitors and tourists who had driven down for the weekend have got stuck here in Goa.
There were reports of minor landslides in the Amboli ghat area and innumerable videos posted on social media platforms depicting boulders and rocks sliding down the hill slopes onto the highway.
Also, the incessant rains over the last four days had left the national highway water-logged on several stretches in Kolhapur district and along the Konkan to Kolhapur stretch of the highway bringing traffic to a standstill.
Long queues of stranded heavy vehicles were reported at various locations on this highway after the Kolhapur police administration decided to close the road.
Meanwhile many visitors and tourists who drove down to Goa on the weekend have put off plans to drive back and are likely to be stuck here for a few more days as the IMD weather forecast predicts the spell of heavy rains is expected to stretch until mid-week (July 26).
Anil Singh, a senior journalist based in Mumbai had driven down to Goa last week. He was scheduled to drive back to Pune enroute, early Sunday morning but cancelled the plan due to the inclement weather and the perils.
"I am waiting for a couple of days for the rains to subside. Better stay put than get stranded," Singh who is put up in Dona Paula said.
Like Singh, it is not uncommon for visitors and tourists from Mumbai, Pune and other cities and nearby towns of Maharashtra to choose to drive down to Goa on weekends.
Several of the Panaji hotels which cater to the casino clientele also reported that their guests have extended their stays beyond the weekend because they put off plans to drive back on Sunday due to the perils of doing so in the inclement weather conditions.
