Sixty-four people have died in rain-related incidents since the onset of monsoon in Gujarat on June 1 even as hundreds of villages and urban areas in districts of south and central Gujarat remained submerged after three continuous days of downpours.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi called up chief minister Bhupendra Patel who apprised him about the situation. The PM assured him of all possible help from the central government.
As downpours eased slightly on Monday, scenes of devastation started surfacing in urban and rural areas of worst-hit Valsad and Chhota Udepur districts. The ferociously flowing rivers flooded houses, shops and killed a large number of livestock, dealing a telling blow to thousands of people who helplessly watched their valuables and belongings getting destroyed.
State revenue minister Rajendra Trivedi said 56 deaths were reported between June 1 and July 9 while rains claimed eight lives in the past 24 hours ending Monday morning. Majority of the fatalities (33) were due to lightning. Sixteen drowned, eight died in wall collapse, six due to tree fall and one in falling of an electricity pole. More than 6,000 people have been rescued in the worst-hit Chhota Udepur, Valsad, Narmada, Surat and Tapi districts where National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams were engaged in rescue operations.
Thirteen NDRF and 16 SDRF have been mobilized for rescue. In Valsad district, 16 people from a village had to be air-lifted as they were stranded on their rooftop due to flooding in the Auranga river.
Around 388 roads, including state highways and village roads, were closed as they were washed away. Thirteen dams have been put on 'high alert' and eight on 'alert' as their water level swelled due to the heavy showers.
12.5% of annual rainfall in 3 days
Residents of several areas in Ahmedabad, which witnessed the highest rainfall of July in the last five years on Sunday, were struggling in the aftermath of downpour. People were wading through waist-high waters in residential societies, rummaging for their belongings. Hundreds of cars in the parking of apartments were damaged. In the 24 hours ending 7am on Monday, the city recorded 219mm, which is 27.5% of the city's annual rainfall. In the last three days, Gujarat has recorded 12.5% of annual rainfall. On Monday, Umarpada in Surat and Dediapada in Narmada were pounded by over 300mm rainfall. The IMD has forecast heavy to very heavy rainfall with isolated extremely heavy showers during the next five days in south Gujarat, and heavy downpour in central parts of the state and Saurashtra.
