RAJKOT/VADODARA: The flood situation in rain-battered coastal districts of Saurashtra and Vadodara city worsened on Wednesday, even as torrential rains continued to pound many parts of the state for the fourth consecutive day.
Since Sunday, a total of 28 people have died in the state. Bodies of seven out of eight people who were missing after a tractor was swept away in the turbulent Kankavati River in Morbi were recovered.Officials told TOI that a six-year-old girl who was among the eight is still missing.
The deaths were reported from Morbi, Gandhinagar, Anand, Vadodara, Kheda, Mahisagar, Ahmedabad, Bharuch, Dahod, Surendranagar, Dang, Aravalli, Panchmahal, Jamnagar, and Devbhumi Dwarka districts. A total of 13 people died due to drowning, while many perished in wall or house collapses. Two people died in tree collapses.
Official data showed that 28,495 people have been shifted to safer locations and 1,856 rescued from flooded waters.
As the deep depression moved westwards, relentless rainfall wreaked havoc in Saurashtra’s Jamnagar and Devbhumi Dwarka districts, where a large number of villages and towns, including the pilgrimage place Dwarka, were marooned. Dwarka, which is thronged by lakhs of tourists, especially during Janmashtami, was inundated for the second time within a month. Dwarka has received 316% of its average annual rainfall, the highest for any taluka in the state.
State has got 106% of season’s rain
Khambhaliya, the headquarters of Devbhumi Dwarka district, has been pounded by 513mm of rainfall in the 36 hours ended 6pm on Wednesday. Massive rescue and relief operations were mounted by the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), SDRF, the Army, Air Force and Coast Guard to extricate thousands of stranded people.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to chief minister Bhupendra Patel and assured all necessary support and assistance from the central govt.
Until Wednesday, Gujarat had received 106% of its average annual rainfall, with 76 talukas getting more than 1,000mm and 131 talukas getting between 501-1,000mm of rainfall.
Vadodara, which is witnessing its worst-ever floods in decades, saw the situation worsening even as there was no rainfall in the 24 hours ending Wednesday morning. Water from the river flooded various parts of the city and reached localities that have rarely seen flooding in the last two decades. The Army was pressed in to rescue stranded people in the city.
Five columns of the Army have been deployed in Vadodara, Morbi, Anand, Devbhumi Dwarka, and Rajkot to carry out relief and rescue operations.
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