Gujarat receives heavy rainfall; Suigam taluka in Banaskantha gets 303 mm in 12 hours

Ahmedabad, Sep 7 (PTI) Several parts of Gujarat received heavy to extremely heavy rainfall in the last 24 hours, throwing life out of gear, especially in Sabarkantha, Banaskantha and other areas in the southern part of the state, officials said on Sunday.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said a depression over southwest Rajasthan moved southwestwards and laid centered over north Gujarat and adjoining southwest Rajasthan on Sunday and is "very likely" to move west-southwestwards during next 2 days".

Due to this, heavy to very heavy rains may occur at isolated places in Banaskantha, Patan, Mehsana, Sabarkantha, Arvalli, Valsad, as well as Kutch and Saurashtra region on Monday and Tuesday, the IMD said.

Rains over the last 24 hours resulted in water-logging in low-lying areas as well as closure of some roads and causeways, officials said.

"The state government has deployed 12 teams of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and 22 teams of State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) across to carry out rescue operations. Fishermen have been advised not to venture into the sea till September 10 due to rough weather," a release said.

The NDRF said it used boats to safely evacuate nine persons, including 4 women and three children, trapped in a village in Khedbrahma taluka of Sabarkantha following water logging.

The State Emergency Operations Centre (SEOC) said Suigam taluka of Banaskantha district received 303 millimetres of rainfall between 6am and 6pm on Sunday.

It was followed by Vav taluka of Banaskantha (127 mm), Bhabhar of Banaskantha (117mm), Valod of Tapi district (112 mm), Kaprada of Valsad (105mm), Vyara of Tapi (103mm), Tharad of Banaskantha (100mm) and Valsad taluka (94mm).

Parts of Patan, Sabarkantha, Gandhinagar, Surat and Navsari district also received considerable rainfall during the day, said the release.

"Out of 206 dams in the state, 123 are on 'high alert', 20 are on 'alert' and 14 dams are on 'warning' mode. At present 4,67,920 MCFT (million cubic feet) of water has been stored in 203 reservoirs. This is equal to 83.87 per cent of the total storage capacity," the government release said.

With the release of nearly 1.13 lakh cusec (cubic feet per second) of water from Dharoi dam and Sant Sarovar dam on the upstream, the lower walkways of Sabarmati Riverfront here have been submerged as the river touched a level of 131 feet at Vasna Barrage, it said.

As a precaution, 27 gates of the barrage have been opened to release nearly 93,600 cusec of water into the downstream of the river, the government release said.

The police control room said people coming to the Riverfront have been urged to refrain from going near the walkway in view of the swelling river. Police teams are making announcements using megaphones, officials said. PTI PJT BNM