IAS Alok Pandey, Gujarat Rains

Relief commissioner for the Government of Gujarat, IAS Alok Pandey today briefed the media about the monsoon in Gujarat at the emergency operation centre in Gandhinagar. Gujarat has so far received 455.75 ml of rain, which is half of its seasonal rain, Pandey said.

“In the last 16 hours, Kutch, north Gujarat, central Gujarat and south Gujarat have received ample rain, 75% in Kutch, 73% in Saurashtra region. Borsad received 346 mm of rain, the highest of the day,” he said.

“As many as 25 dams have 70% of water levels. Due to heavy rain, 826 people have been rescued in the last 16 hours, including people airlifted from Dwarka and Surat. Twenty NDRF teams are working on the rescue.

“Total death toll is 61 in the season, of which eight people died due to lightning and drowning in rain water,” Pandey told the mediapersons.

For villages out of electricity, the relief chief said, “No place will remain without electricity for more than 24 hours. As many as 607 village roads and 41 state roads are also affected due to heavy rainfall, for which we are in touch with district administration.”

According to him, the red alert from many parts of Gujarat will be lifted, and only six districts will fall under the red alert. 

“People don't need to panic, the situation will be under control in two or three days,” he said.

He also added that there has not been any damage to the crops.

For agriculture, he said, there are no more crops in farms now, so nothing to worry about, as per the situation. NDRF’s 20 teams are in the field for rescue operations.

Heavy rains across Gujarat

Light to moderate rainfall was recorded in Central and South Gujarat today, as massive downpour were recorded in Borsad, which received 13 inches of rain in 4 hours. Meanwhile, 1 to 5 inches of rain was recorded in districts including Anand, Vadodara, Bharuch, Chhotaudepur, and Panchmahal.

Heavy rains in Vadodara caused the Vishwamitri River to overflow above its 17-foot mark.

In the last 24 hours, the highest rainfall of 11 inches was recorded in Surat’s Umarpada, followed by 10 inches in Palsana. 9 inches of rain lashed Navsari’s Kheergam. Moreover, 8 inches of rain was recorded in Junagadh’s Visavadar. Surat’s Kamrej and Bardoli, along with Devbhumi Dwarka, received 8 inches of rain as well. 7 inches of rain was recorded in Dang’s Waghai and Tapi’s Vyara.

More than 6 inches of heavy rains hit Vansda, Mangrol, Navsari, Surat, Jodiya, Mandvi-Kutch, Mahuva, Dang-Ahwa, Mundra, and Dolvan, among other areas.

Lives impacted

Normalcy has been disrupted in Surat due to the rains since morning, as rainwater has entered residential areas near the shore. About 60 people were rescued from Rajeevnagar in the Velanja area due to waterlogging.

District education offices in many cities have declared holidays due to heavy rains and waterlogging.

The state has recorded more than 48% of the average seasonal rainfall, with the highest rainfall of 75% in Kutch, followed by 71% in Saurashtra, 57% in South Gujarat, and 25% each in North and East-Central Gujarat.