life in Central and South Gujarat was completely paralysed following heavy rain over the past two days. Three major rivers in the region —Narmada, Tapti, Daman Ganga and Vishwamitri — are flowing above danger marks.
The State administration has shifted more than 45,000 dwellers of low-lying areas near Surat, Bharuch, Ankleshwar and Vadodara cities to safer places. Educational institutions remained closed in the flood-affected cities including Vadodara, Surat and Ahmedabad.
Due to heavy downpour on Tuesday night and early morning on Wednesday, the administration was forced to close two bridges Kalaghoda and Mangal Pandey for vehicular traffic. With the water level of Narmada constantly rising, the administration has suggested local people to use famous Golden Bridge of Bharuch only in the case of emergency. Coast guard chopper is being used to rescue people in South Gujarat.
Incessant rain has also caused water-logging in many parts of Ahmedabad. Though situation in Gujarat’s biggest city is not as dire as that of in Central and South Gujarat, fire brigade personnel have been asked to remain alert. Underpasses in the city have literally converted into mini-lakes. The Meteorological Department has forecast more rain till Sunday. Knee-deep water-logging has been reported in smaller towns like Valsad, Navsari, Anand, Kheda and Nadiad. Many villages in the areas have also been disconnected.
Meanwhile, long traffic jam occurred near Bharuch due to water-logging and deterioration of roads on National Highway-8 connecting Mumbai to Gujarat cities. Even in normal condition, the road from Vadodara up to Mumbai is considered prone to traffic jams, especially near Bharuch and Ankleshwar. However, on Wednesday, the traffic jam was as long as 50 km near Bharuch town.
To ease the traffic jam, Bharuch district administration has asked toll booth operators to stop collection of money till the traffic returns to normalcy. Talking to The Pioneer, Bharuch Collector Avantika Singh said that situation is still critical and in anticipation of more rain, the administration has also started eight relief camps.
“More than 2,000 industrial units in Ankleshwar, Dahej, Jhagadia and Panoli are partially functioning. Workers are not able to reach at these units. Productions of most of these units were gone down by 60 per cent,” said Kamlesh Udani, former president of Ankleshwar Industries Associations. On Wednesday, industries were forced to remain closed in Makarpura and Nandesari industrial estates near Vadodara, said Vithalbhai Ukani, who owns an industrial units in Vadodara.
The western railway authority has also issued a list of cancelled trains between Mumbai and Ahmedabad due to water-logging between Surat and Vadodara. Some of these trains are Karnavati Express, Surat-Mahuva Express, Gujarat Queen, Ahmedabad-Mumbai double-decker Express, Surat-Jamnagar Inter-City, Mumbai-Ahmedabad Duranto Express among others. The Saurashtra-Kutch region also received rain last night. Apart from parts of Junagadh and Bhavnagar areas, people were shifted to safer places, situation in the Western Gujarat is under control.
