Heavy rain lashes parts of Gujarat

Ahmedabad, Aug: Many rivers in south Gujarat and Saurashtra-Kutch regions are flooded due to heavy rain with the MeT department predicting "heavy to very heavy" rainfall in the state tomorrow.

Rivers in Navsari and Valsad districts including Purna, Ambika, Kaveri, Auranga and Daman Ganga have swelled and some of them are flowing close to the danger mark, officials said. Low-lying areas in Valsad along Auranga river are flooded. The administration has sounded alert, asking people to shift to higher areas.

Dozens of villages in Navsari and Dangs districts have lost road connections due to the floods. In Valsad, Daman Ganga river was in spate as around 1.8 lakh cusec water was released from Madhuwan dam in Dadra-Nagar Haveli. Road links to several villages in Gandevi tehsil in Valsad district were cut off.

Dangs district in south Gujarat also received heavy rain, cutting off over two dozen villages from the main roads. Jamnagar, Dwarka, Porbandar and Rajkot districts in Saurashtra also received heavy rainfall along with Kutch.

While Jamnagar received 181 mm of rainfall in the last 24 hours till 8 AM today, Devbhoomi Dwarka received 118 mm and Valsad 133 mm of rainfall. Dangs received 114 mm of rainfall. North and east-central Gujarat received lesser rainfall during this period.

So far in the season, the state has received a total of 368.89 mm of rainfall, or 46.24 per cent of the average, data of the India Meteorological Department (IMD) shows.

IMD has predicted heavy to very heavy rainfall in Gujarat in the next 24 hours due to a low pressure area built over south Pakistan and south-west Rajasthan and upper cyclonic circulation.

PTI