Deluge in south,NDRF teams off to Valsad

“Two teams of a total of 80 personnel have been sent for rescue operations. The rainfall is heavy. The teams will take at least three days to help people in various villages of Valsad district,” Deputy Commandant of NDRF in Gandhinagar,Gambhir Singh,said.

About 15 trains on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad route were cancelled or truncated while several trains between the two cities were running late by 4-5 hours.

Heavy rains also lashed Junagadh district in Saurashtra region,flooding many rivers and leading to the inflow of fresh water in many dams. Many streams and rivers in Mendarda taluka of Junagadh were flooded. The taluka recorded 113 mm rain since 7 am. Junagadh received 37 mm during the day. Rivers like Hiran and Ojat in the district were flooded. Fresh inflow of water was recorded in Madhuvanti and Raval dams. Ojat dam also recorded significant fresh inflow,district flood control room here said.

In Surat,heavy downpour adversely affected the functioning of the textile and diamond business. Flooding in several areas saw rain water enter the godowns of several textile markets in the city which registered over 136 mm rainfall. Olpad (131),Mangrol (100),Choryasi (125) talukas in Surat district saw heavy rains.

Sanjay Jagnani,the president of Federation of Surat Textile Traders Association,said,“With the heavy downpour,the traders from other states have put off their trips. We have also received complaints of water-logging in basement areas of markets,damaging the finished fabric.”

Diamond traders in Mahidharpura and Varachha area in Surat too had to shut shop for the day due to rains.

Choksi Bazar market at Mini Hira bazaar in Varachha,which has over 2,500 small and big offices for trading,was also closed on Friday. Market president Bhogilal Tevatia said,“There were very few of them in the market. The trading business is done in open light. With poor light,the traders did not turn up. Even the transportation of cut and rough diamonds from Surat to Mumbai was affected.”