2 feared drowned as heavy rains continue

In a separate incident,authorities said two women in Ananddham area of Botad were injured when they were struck by lightning.

The Meteorological Department (Met Dept) has predicted heavy rainfall till Friday for coastal areas of Saurashtra including Junagadh,Jamnagar and Porbandar.

In Porbandar,lightning damaged electric poles leading to a disruption in power supply for a few hours,while an ox was reportedly killed after being struck by lightning in Kalavad taluka of Jamnagar.

Heavy rains were reported on Thursday from Amreli district with Rajula taluka receiving 141mm rainfall,while Jafrabad recorded 100mm. Mahuva in Bhavnagar registered 84 mm rain in the 24 hours concluding at 7 am on Thursday.

Meanwhile in Rajkot district,12 families were evacuated from a 6-story residential building in Morbi town after it tilted following rains on Thursday. No person was injured in the incident. The Met Dept had also issued a port and fishermen warning till Friday. “There will be fairly widespread rainfall over Gujarat till this weekend. Coastal areas of Saurashtra are expected to receive maximum rainfall,” said regional IMD (Indian Meteorological Department) director Jayanta Sarkar.

Ahmedabad received an average of 27 mm rainfall on Thursday with a maximum of 45 mm rainfall reported in the central zone.

With heavy rains lashing the city,residents were seen braving the water-logged roads.

So far,the city had already received 505 mm of average rainfall as compared to last year when it received only 91 mm of rainfall till July.

Traffic snarls were reported in the city due to six complaints of trees that had fallen and five complaints of roads caved in in the south and central zones of the city.

Meanwhile,the AMC deployed nearly 135 water pumps to remove water-logging from roads,underpasses and buildings.