More than 12,000 relocated as flood hits Vadodara city

Vadodara, Sept 11: Several areas of Vadodara was in waist-deep water on Thursday after river Vishwamitri over flowed. Over 20,000 persons were evacuated to safer locations across the district due to the flash floods, said a

.

Around 12,761 people living in and around Vadodara were moved to safer areas and 9,528 people living in nearby villages were relocated. National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and EME Corps of the Indian Army have joined the rescue efforts.

Al though the city and district hardly received any rainfall since Tuesday night, the water released from Ajwa reservoir lead to flooding in Vishwamitri, said the report. The water rose to more than 34 feet in Vadodara in the morning.

Sensing danger, the 62 gates of Ajwa reservoir were closed at 5.30 am. However, waters level refused to recede. Till 8 pm, the water level was at 34 feet and was expected to recede only in the night.

The water level didn't recede as Dhadhar river into which Vishwamitri flows was also in spate, said officials. "Dhadhar was at a level of 35.6feet and it was unable to accommodate the flow from Vishwamitri," said VMC commissioner Manish Bhardwaj.

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