A fresh spell of incessant rain disturbed normal life in Gujarat as three died, more than 200 rescued and at least 6,000 people shifted from low lying areas to safer places in order to save them from flooding waters. Heavy to very heavy downpours are reported from Surendranagar, Morbi and Rajkot districts in Saurashtra region.
‘‘Morbi received more than 20 inches of rain in the past 24 hours, which is almost equal to rain the town had seen in disaster 1979 that had led to large scale destruction. However, this time we were cautious and that has saved the day,” said Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani who personally visited to the disaster control room to review the situation.
Other than Morbi, Chotila received nearly 14 inches of rain in last 24 hours, causing inconvenience. By evening, the local administration had issued a ‘Red alert’ for Morbi and put NDRF team on standby. The leaves of all the Government officials were cancelled and local police were deployed on National Highway.
“As many as 10 State highways and 56 arterial roads in the region have been damaged and efforts are on to open the roads. No National Highways have been affected,” said Revenue Secretary Pankaj Kumar, adding that till Saturday evening 214 people have been rescued, including 42 by NDRF, 65 by State Disaster Rescue Force, three by Indian Air Force and others by local police and fire brigade.
Kumar said so far Gujarat has received 51 per cent of its seasonal rain at about 415 mm. The Kutch region has received 71.67%, Saurashtra about 66%, North Gujarat 48.08%, South Gujarat about 47.72% and East Central Gujarat about 35.72 % of seasonal rains till date. Among all the districts, Valsad has received maximum of 1358 mm of rains this season.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued forecast of thundershowers in most districts of Gujarat region, Saurashtra, Kutch and in Diu, Daman, Dadra Nagar Haveli till the morning of July 27. Dams in parts of Gujarat where incessant rains registered are overflowing. The Gtate Government has pressed its district administration into rescue work with food packets and other essential items being air dropped in to affected areas.