Ahmedabad: As many as 67 people have died in Gujarat due to heavy rains between June 1 to July 11, State's Revenue Minister Rajendra Trivedi said on Monday. A total of 12 talukas in the state received an average rainfall of more than eight inches with the highest rainfall of 12 inches being recorded in Bodeli of Chhotaudepur.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi called up Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel to assess the situation. He assured Patel of all possible help from the central government, the Chief Minister's Office said in a statement.
Due to the widespread rains, 388 roads, including state highways and panchayat roads, were closed. Efforts were on to open them for the traffic. Thirteen teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and 16 of the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) have been deployed to carry out rescue operations, a government release said.
Earlier in the day, Trivedi said that 8976 people have been evacuated from low-lying areas across the state due to heavy rains. According to the State Government, 272 cattle deaths have been reported so far by the Gandhinagar Emergency Centre. Health Minister Hrishikesh Patel held a meeting with the city commissioner and office bearers in Jodhpur to take stock of the situation.
Several parts of districts in south and central Gujarat, including Ahmedabad, received very heavy rainfall over the last 24 hours, resulting in a flood-like situation in various low-lying areas from where over 6,000 people were shifted to safer places, officials said on Monday.
Thirteen dams have been put on 'high alert' and eight on 'alert' as their water level rose due to the heavy showers, it said. IMD stated in a forecast that heavy to very heavy rainfall with isolated extremely heavy showers will take place during the next five days in south Gujarat, and there will be a heavy downpour in central parts of the state and Saurashtra. Ahmedabad city received a 219 mm downpour on Sunday night, causing water-logging in many residential areas and flooding on underpasses and roads.
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Several areas in the city were inundated, resulting in hardships for commuters. Schools and colleges in the city were closed on Monday. Narmada and Chhota Udepur districts in central Gujarat and Surat, Tapi, and Valsad in south Gujarat have been badly affected due to the heavy downpour. In Valsad district, a helicopter was used to rescue around 10 people from a village where they were stranded due to flooding in the Auranga river, revenue official Madhavi Mistry said.
Nearly 1,000 people were shifted to safer places from various rain-hit areas in Valsad and 15 were rescued, five of them from an urban area, she said. In Chhota Udepur district, Bodeli taluka received 549 mm rainfall and Kwant taluka 432 mm rainfall in the 24-hour period till 6 am on Monday, leading to water entering many areas. The Uchh and Heran rivers in the district were in spate and caused flooding in low-lying areas.
A total of 5,245 people were evacuated and more than 350 rescued, an official said. In Bodeli town, river waters entered many residential areas. The movement of four passenger trains and an express train was affected after tracks between Chandod and Ekta Nagar sections were washed away, a Western Railway official said. Panchmahal, Dang, Navsari, Valsad, Tapi, and Kheda districts were also affected by heavy rains, an official from the State Emergency Operation Centre (SEOC) said.
In all, 218 out of 251 talukas in Gujarat received rainfall in the 24-hour period till 6 am on Monday, it said. The state has so far received 36 percent of its average annual rainfall, as per the data shared by the SEOC. (With agency inputs)
