3 killed as heavy rain pound Jamnagar, Kutch, Junagadh

The water in Vasna barrage on Sabarmati River touched 130 feet — seven feet lower than the full reservoir level at 9 pm as the government opened seven gates of the barrage by three feet each.

Many areas of Jamnagar city were flooded as the city was lashed by more than 10 inches of rain between 6 am and 8 pm Friday. Rainwater entered houses in areas like Limda Lane, Bedi, Momainagar, Valkeshwari, Navagam, Khakhinagar, Green City and Dharanagar of Jamnagar as the city experienced torrential rains throughout the day and continued till late evening. District flood control room said that a 13-year-old boy, identified as Yash Parmar, was killed after being swept away in a flooded stream at Nav Nala area in Jamnagar city.

Two of a family drowned at Ranjeetsagar Dam near Jamnagar city as it was filled almost to its capacity. Asif Seta (35), a resident of Jamnagar city, was on an outing with his family when his 13-year-old son Nawaz, while clicking selfies, slipped and fell into the dam and started drowning. “The father jumped in the dam to save Nawaz. However, both of them drowned,” an officer of the flood control room said.

Ahmedabad city received an average of 62 mm of rainfall within four hours between 4 pm and 9 pm. Barring the east zone, heavy rainfall was reported across the city with the highest in the Jodhpur ward (160 mm) in the Southwest zone followed by Bopal (115 mm) in the same zone. Danapith in the central zone recorded 106 mm, Science City 115 mm and Bodakdev 109 mm in the northwest zone, Ranip 89 mm and Usmanpura 87 mm in the west zone.

Fourteen BRTS buses and 15 AMTS were reported to have broken down on the roads due to heavy rainfall Friday evening. This further led to traffic chaos. While a few were removed from the roads and taken to the depots, seven BRTS buses at Shivranjani, Sola Bridge, Kankaria telephone exchange, Law Garden, Nehru Nagar, Gota Gam and Vijay Park were still reported to be on the road till late night. The AMTS buses broke down at Lal Darwaja, Balolnagar, ISRO, Vadaj, Paldi areas.

Vadodara city, too, saw several areas flooded after heavy rain lashed the city through the afternoon.

Meanwhile, Gandhidham and Anjar towns in Kutch were flooded following torrential rains during the day. Anjar taluka logged 9.56 inches of rain from 6 am to 8 pm Friday, while Gandhidham experienced 4.64 inches of rain during the same period. “Certain areas are flooded in Anjar and Gandhidham town, but the rain intensity has fallen and waters have started receding,” said Mehul Desai, sub-divisional magistrate of Anjar.

Following heavy rainfall in Anjar, water gushed into houses in most parts of the downstream Gandhidham town, the commercial hub of Kutch. In many areas, people were forced to shift to the upper storeys of their homes as water entered the ground floors. Vehicular traffic was disrupted even on Tagore Road, one of the arterial roads of Kutch, as water swept across it making it dangerous for driving. However, no untoward incident was reported from anywhere until evening, the Kutch district flood control room said.

Rainwater entered some areas of Junagadh city also following the heavy downpour. The city recorded more than four inches of rain during 14 hours ending at 8 pm Friday. A deluge-like situation prevailed as Visavadar taluka of Junagadh was pounded by around 15 inches of rain between 10 am and 8 pm. Following the extremely heavy rain, the irrigation department had to open the floodgates of the Dhrafad Dam in Visavdar.

Following the extremely heavy rainfall, NDRF teams were on their way to Anjar, Jamnagar and Junagadh in case of any search and rescue operations.

Due to heavy rains, many dams, including Bhadar-II and Aji-II, were overflowing. Scores of other dams were nearing their designated rule levels and irrigation officers warned people not to venture near downstream river sections as they said they would open floodgates anytime.

CM reviews situation

Ahmedabad: To review and take stock of the rain situation, Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel visited the State Emergency Operation Center (SEOC) in Gandhinagar late night following widespread rains and to guide the concerned district administrations. Chief Secretary Raj Kumar, Relief Commissioner Alok Pandey and senior secretaries joined the meeting.

The CM was apprised of how the rain has impacted people’s lives, especially in Jamnagar, Junagadh, and Kutch. He gave instructions to focus on rescue and relief works, including moving people from low-lying areas to safer places.
According to the India Meteorological Department, the amount of rain will reduce in the state Sunday after which the situation will start to normalise, officials stated.

Despite this the CM advised the district administrators to be vigilant, stated a government release.
The Chief Minister spoke to the Junagadh Collector and also took information about heavy rain that lashed the entire district Friday. He also reviewed the waterlogging situation in the villages of Visavadar taluka and the need for the evacuation of people.

“The CM spoke to the Collector about the rains in Anjar of Kutch district and the situation that arose due to it. He also suggested taking appropriate action as required in case of the overflowing of the lake in Anjar and the overflowing of a dam near Anjar so that traffic or public life is not affected due to water inundation on the roads. In this meeting, it was stated that a total of four teams have been sent to help the district administration, including teams of NDRF in Kutch, Jamnagar, Junagadh and Navsari districts. Two teams of SDRF have been sent to Junagadh and Jamnagar,” the release stated.