Ahmedabad, Torrential rains pummelled several parts of south and central Gujarat on Saturday, prompting authorities to shift 27,000 people and rescue 53 others from affected districts, especially in Surat and Navsari, even as flood-like situations cut off many villages, officials said.
Event Context
Ambika taluka in Surat district received up to 611 mm of rainfall in the 24 hours ended at 6 am.
Authorities had prepared in advance in view of red and orange alerts for various districts by shutting down schools and colleges and deploying NDRF, SDRF and Army personnel in the affected areas.
The India Meteorological Department has issued a red alert warning of isolated extremely heavy rainfall in the districts of Ahmedabad, Surendranagar, Rajkot, Bhavnagar, Morbi and Botad till Sunday morning.
The fresh wet spell came a week after rains wreaked havoc in several parts, especially in Navsari and Valsad districts in south Gujarat.
Player Focus
An SDRF team has already been deployed at Mandvi, while an additional SDRF team has been dispatched to Olpad on Saturday morning for assistance, he said.
Team Analysis
Authorities deployed 17 teams of the National Disaster Response Force and 33 teams of the state’s SDRF along with the Army to carry out relief and rescue operations in districts likely to be affected by heavy rains.
Two NDRF teams were stationed in Vadodara, and one each in Ahmedabad, Amreli, Anand, Navsari and Valsad, while six columns of the Army were deployed, two each in Ahmedabad, Surat and Navsari.
A total of 27,856 people, including 11,500 in Navsari and 11,176 in Surat, have been relocated.
Heavy rains caused several dams to overflow, resulting in flooding in catchment areas. Some villages have been put on high alert, while several rivers are in spate.
“More than 4,000 people were safely evacuated from affected rural areas of Surat district,” said collector Tejas Parmar and appealed to people living on the banks of the Kim river to move to safe locations in time.
“Due to the overflowing Kim river, low-lying villages of Olpad and Mangrol talukas were flooded, prompting the authorities to start evacuating citizens to safe places from Friday. The evacuation continues,” said Parmar.
All the main creeks in Surat city are currently flowing below the danger level. Though the water level in some creeks increased on Friday, the situation was now completely under control, the collector added.
He said a causeway over the Tapi river in Surat district is submerged, while Ukai Dam is flowing near the danger level.
In Navsari district, hit by another spell of very heavy rain within a week, an NDRF team rescued 114 persons from a flooded residential society at Bilimora on Friday night.
Amid heavy rains, 22 of the state’s 206 dams have been put on high alert due to rising water levels.
In view of heavy rainfall forecast, the state government has postponed a mass weekly sanitation programme scheduled for Sunday across Gujarat.
Amid a red alert and torrential rains, the local health department in Narmada district pulled off a massive preemptive rescue mission, ensuring the safe delivery of 25 babies over the last 72 hours.
Match Outlook
Anticipating a crisis as the monsoon intensified, officials identified 142 pregnant women whose expected delivery dates were on or before August 15 and ensured safe delivery of 25 women who went into labour after around 101 were shifted to hospitals in the tribal district of Narmada.
Gujarat has so far received 64.76 per cent of annual average rainfall, with 35 talukas recording 1,000 mm of rain in the current monsoon season.
While several areas remained deficient in rains, south Gujarat has received over 91 per cent of total rainfall, as per the SEOC data.
This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
source
Surat, Navsari, Bharuch, and Tapi in south Gujarat, as well as Kheda and Anand in central Gujarat, were among the districts that received more than 400 mm of rainfall, with Ambika taluka in Surat district receiving up to 611 mm rainfall in the 24 hours ended at 6 am on Saturday, according to State Emergency Operation Centre .
Parts of Morbi, Surendranagar and Narmada districts received heavy rain since Saturday morning, with Morbi recording 211 mm of rainfall from 6 am to 4 pm.
