Bicholim/Canacona: Fire stations across Goa, particularly in rural areas, remained busy responding to rescue calls on Saturday as heavy rain and strong winds battered the state.The Bicholim Fire Station received around 20 rescue calls between late Friday evening and Saturday evening after trees collapsed at several locations across the taluka.According to fire officials, the estimated property loss was around Rs 4.5 lakh, while timely rescue operations helped save property worth approximately Rs 25 lakh.Vasudev Gaitonde of Housing Board, Sanquelim, suffered an estimated loss of Rs 95,000 after a tree crashed onto his house. Suresh Gawas of Maulingem, Bicholim, reported damage worth Rs 80,000, while Deepak Raut of Sal suffered losses of Rs 50,000 after trees near their houses fell on their properties. The state also incurred losses due to damage to power cables. Fallen trees blocked roads at several places and disrupted power supply.The operations were led by Station Fire Officer Rahul Desai under the supervision of Sub Officer Vithal Gaonkar. With the help of three fire tenders, firefighters remained engaged in rescue and tree-clearing operations until late Saturday night.In Canacona, a large rainforest tree was uprooted and fell on the house of Shahish P. Dhuri, a former Konkan Railway employee and resident of Patnem-Colomb, causing an estimated loss of Rs 15,000.According to Leading Fire Fighter S. K. Desai, the tree first crashed onto an electricity line before falling on the house. Dhuri said that although his family members were inside the house at the time, no one was injured.Fire and Emergency Services personnel cleared the road and removed the fallen tree from the roof of the house. Electricity department staff temporarily restored the power supply. The impact of the tree fall was such that one of the two damaged electricity poles snapped into pieces, while the other was left bent.Strong winds and heavy rain uprooted several trees across Canacona, snapping power cables at at least seven locations.
Emergency services personnel clear tree branches that fell on a house at Patnem
