Week after heavy rains, hundred of houses remain flooded in Gujarat’s Mandvi town
Govt deploys 15 dewatering pumps to clear waterlogging from posh areas of port town in Kutch
5 min read
A waterlogged area in Bhatiya Society in Mandvi town on Monday. (Express photo by Gopal Kateshiya)A week after Mandvi town was flooded following extremely heavy rainfall, waterlogging is persisting in this coastal town in Kutch and around 1000 houses remained affected on Monday even as the government deployed 15 dewatering pumps to address the issue.
Houses in around seven societies in Babavadi, Rameshwar Zupadpatti and Jogivas Salaya areas remained waterlogged for the seventh consecutive day on Monday. Around 1000 households remained affected, locals said. “Waterlogging is very high in Madhavnagar 1, 2 and 3 societies in Babavadi area. In fact, water levels are waist-high in Madhavnagar-3 and people’s homes are still flooded,” Vijaysinh Jadeja, a resident of Bakalivadi in Babavadi area told The Indian Express on Monday evening, adding the backside of his house also remained water-logged. “The water is stinking. So are household belongings post the flooding,” he said.
A water-logged section in Madhavnagar-3 society in Mandvi town on Monday.(Express photo by Gopal Kateshiya)
Sanjay Patel, chief officer of Mandvi municipality said that besides Madhavnagar 1, 2 and 3, heavy waterlogging persisted in Nityanand Babavadi, Meghmangalnagar, Jaynagar, Vijaynagar, Padmavatinagar etc in the posh western part of the town as well as Jogivas and Rameshwar Zupadpatti. “We are distributing food packets and drinking water in four to five societies in these areas as waterlogging levels are high,” Patel said, adding, “While the waters are receding in natural course since the rain halted on Friday morning, we have also deployed 15 dewatering pumps and three electric motor-pumps to clear floodwaters and we are expecting the situation to normalise in around a day’s time.”
The western part of the town as well as the low-lying area in Salaya harbour area of Mandvi were flooded as extremely heavy rainfalls started pounding the area since the intervening night of August 25 and 26 under the influence of a deep depression which had moved to Kutch district. By the time the heavy downpour stopped at around 8 AM on August 30, Mandvi had logged around 35 inches of precipitation. Heavy flow of runoff from villages like Bharapar, Rayan Patiya, Vada, Don Bhadai, Dhokda flooded part of the Mandvi as Topansar lake in the heart of the town couldn’t handle the inflow. A record high-level flood in Rukmavati river which flows through the eastern part of the town made the matters worse, say officers.
Dewatering pumps deployed near Meghmangal society in Mandvi on Monday. (Express photo by Gopal Kateshiya)
Tushar Joshi, a consulting accountant who lives in Madhavnagar-3 told The Indian Express over phone on Monday evening that the front yard of his house was still under water. “The water is still on the first step of of entrance of my residence and we are afraid to venture out even as we are running low on daily essentials,” he said, adding, “However, water is receding gradually and we heaved a sigh of relief when water receded from ground floor of my house on Saturday night.”
Joshi’s house stands on a 4.5 feet-high plinth and he said that streets in his area were under water more than knee-deep.
In Meghmangal Nagar, Dr Harshad Udeshi, a 72-year-old physician and his elderly wife were stuck in their flooded house for five days. “I waded through waist-deep waters for around 100 feet to go out on Saturday as the battery of my phone was on the verge of being exhausted. Thankfully, waters receded from my house on Monday (September 2) but streets surrounding my house are still severely water-logged and snakes are a constant threat,” he said.
But the chief officer (CO) said that the inflow in Topansar lake had reduced by Monday evening. “The inflow in the lake has reduced to a manageable level. Now, the inflow and outflow is the same,” Patel said, adding “We removed a culvert from Nagnath Mandir Road which was impeding flow of floodwaters overflowing Topansar.”
A waterlogged area in Bakalinagar near Meghmangal society in Mandvi on Monday. (Express photo by Gopal Kateshiya)
The CO further said that electricity supply was restored in entire Mandvi on Sunday and that the municipality supplied piped drinking water to residents on Monday.
Jadeja said that the municipality will have to remove encroachment from the course of natural drain which channels waters overflowing Topansar lake to Rukmavati river. “Near Swaminarayan temple, the drain has been covered with RCC structure and hence not amenable to cleaning. Apparently it will not be able to handle such large volumes of water if not cleaned regularly,” 49-year-old Jadeja who executes civil work contracts in Kutch added.
Kesar Chaudhary, deputy municipal commissioner of Gandhinagar Municipal Corporation who has served as sub-divisional magistrate of Mundra in the past and who has been camping in Mandvi for the past few days to guide the municipality tackle the situation, agrees. “One obvious reason for persistent waterlogging is that topography of some parts of Mandvi town is like a tea saucer from where water won’t drain in naturally and it will have to be pumped out. When an area like Mandvi gets 36 inches of rain within three-four days, the problem becomes severe and some long-term solution will have to be found to prevent recurrence of such a situation in future,” he said.
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