Today, IMD warned that Gujarat received very heavy & heavy rains today and warned that more of the same is imminent – anywhere from 2 to 3 days. Persistent rainfall in the past two days has led to flooding problems, and hundreds of people have been relocated to other parts of the region. Navsari has been the worst affected district in the state due to its groundwater source, which resulted in IMD’s announcement of a ‘red alert’ for Navsari on August 26.
Due to this crisis, Gujarat’s Chief Minister, Bhupendra Patel, has directed the officials to encourage people to shift from the flooded areas as they ensure the safety of the dwellers amid the upsurge of floods. The worst affected states by the heavy rainfall are Valsad, Tapi, Navsari, Surat, Narmada, and Panchmahal districts in South Gujarat.
The NDRF has initiated a search operation to find seven people from the Morbi district who lost their balance and were drowned in a tractor-trolley along with them while trying to cross a flooded causeway. Quoting the data of SEOC, Khergam taluka in Navsari district reported the highest rainfall in the last 24 hours up to 6 AM Monday, and it was as high as 356 mm. Other districts that received more than 100 mm of rainfall include Narmada, Saurashtra, Rajkot, Tapi, Mahisagar, Morbi, Dahod and Vadodara.
The chief secretary of Gujarat has appealed to the local bodies to be on the alert, particularly the state headquarters, expecting an influx of people through fairs and festivals to be held during Shravan month. The current rains have indicated that the South Gujarat districts have exceeded the average annual rainfall by 105 percent making it the highest in the state. Of greater importance, 8 districts of South Gujarat and Saurashtra have received over 100 per cent of their average annual rainfall.
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