Heavy rains in parts of Gujarat create flood-like situation; several people evacuated

Ahmedabad, Aug 20 (PTI) Flood-like situation prevailed and several people had to be evacuated from low-lying areas of several coastal districts in Gujarat after heavy rains battered them on Wednesday, with Mendarda taluka in Junagadh recording 331 mm rainfall in 12 hours, officials said.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) predicted more such showers in the next two days.

Several parts of Junagadh in the Saurashtra region of the state received very heavy rains in the morning, with the weather bureau forecasting isolated extremely heavy to exceptionally heavy rainfall in the district till Thursday morning.

According to the State Emergency Operation Centre (SEOC), Mendarda taluka recorded 331 mm rainfall in 12 hours ending 6 pm on Wednesday, while Keshod taluka received 280 mm downpour in the same period.

Porbandar, Navsari and Valsad were among other districts that witnessed very heavy rains during the day, prompting the administration to launch rescue and relief operations for the affected people.

Several teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and state unit SDRF were mobilised to carry out relief and rescue operations in areas where heavy rains caused flooding in low-lying areas.

Several dams and rivers started overflowing as a result of good rainfall, and led to flooding in low-lying areas of nearby villages.

The NDRF evacuated 12 persons trapped in low-lying areas at Manewada village in Junagadh. Similarly, three persons were rescued at Dataradi village in Amreli district, and seven persons stranded at a temple in Manavadar taluka of the Junagadh district, officials said.

In another incident, as many as 46 school children and four teachers from a school were trapped due to flooding at Borasar village in Porbandar district.

Junagadh collector Anil Ranavasiya said three talukas of the district were specially affected by heavy rains, with 52 low-lying villages put on alert in view of the overflowing dam.

Several approach roads were blocked and operations of the state transport buses were suspended in the affected areas. Instructions were issued to keep schools and colleges shut in view of heavy rains, he said.

A man died due to lightning strike in a village in Manavadar village, he said.

"People from low-lying areas were being shifted due to flood-like situations. As many as 35 villages were cut off in two talukas of the district," Ranavasiya said.

The IMD forecast extremely heavy rains in Surat, Navsari, Valsad, and Daman and Dadra Nagar Haveli as well as Porbandar, Dwarka, Amreli, Bhavnagar, Gir Somnath and Diu, and heavy to very heavy rains with isolated extremely heavy rains in Devbhumi Dwarka district till Friday morning.

An upper air cyclonic circulation over northeast Arabian Sea and adjoining Gujarat has persisted along with offshore troughs at mean sea level along the Gujarat-Maharashtra coast, the IMD said. PTI KA NP