Rain continues to lash Gujarat; 14 dams on high alert, over 12,000 evacuated

Ten teams each of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) have been deployed in the affected districts.
According to a government release, arrangements are being made to provide food and medical aid in the flood-affected areas.

The IMD has forecasted heavy to very heavy rains in the districts of Patan, Morbi and Kutch on Tuesday. “Heavy rains at isolated places are very likely in the districts of Banaskantha, Anand, Bharuch and Surat and in the districts of Saurashtra, namely Porbandar, Junagadh, Bhavnagar and Dwarka,” the IMD alert stated.

Light thunderstorm with lightning and gusty surface wind at 30-40 kmph accompanied by light to moderate rain was forecasted at isolated places in all the districts of Saurashtra and Kutch.

For September 20, the Met department has predicted heavy rains in the districts of Porbandar, Dwarka and Kutch.

Meanwhile, the state government was at the receiving end of leaders from the opposition Congress and AAP for releasing 18 lakh cusecs of water from the Sardar Sarovar Dam on Narmada river on a single day “to celebrate Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s birthday”. However, Patel defended the move saying the dam saw a high inflow following heavy downpour in its upstream and catchments areas owing to a lower pressure created in the Bay of Bengal.

The inflow of water, he said, was so huge that the dam received water equivalent to its total capacity in just one-and-a-half days. “We received so much water…that it was necessary to release 22 lakh cusecs of water. Yet, we released only 18 lakh cusecs of water. We started releasing water gradually from September 16 itself. It is natural that they (Congress leaders) make allegations when such a situation has arisen, but there is no truth in it.”

On the flooding in the low-lying villages downstream, he said, “We did give a warning, but we got a very small span of time within which we released the water. As a result, we have sustained damage in the downstream villages on the bank of the river, and Bharuch and Ankleshwar.”

Responding to questions on Congress’s allegations that the flooding was not a natural calamity, Patel said, “Since 2019, whenever the dam gets overflowed, the chief minister has been going to celebrate the inflow of the water.”

On Monday, the Sardar Sarovar Dam was at full reservoir level (FRL) of 138.68 metres with an outflow of 5.9 lakh cusecs till morning. In addition, the Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Limited (SSNNL) is also releasing about 2 lakh cusecs into the Narmada Main Canal.

The Narmada river swelled up to the 40-feet mark in Bharuch. The Western Railway cancelled 25 trains, diverted dozens others through Maharashtra and Rajasthan as the water reached up to the river bridge. The traffic resumed as the water receded Monday afternoon.

In Bharuch, 43 schools and Anganwadis remained closed in the flood-prone areas of Ankleshwar, Bharuch and Jhagadia talukas. Over 5,800 people were shifted to safer places by the authorities.

Talking to the Indian Express, District Collector Tushar Sumera said, “The water started entering into 58 residential societies in Ankleshwar town from Sunday night onwards. Over 1,000 residents of these societies have been affected and our teams are supplying water and food packets to them. There is nothing to worry. The power services have been disrupted in these societies. However, in other villages of the taluka, the water has started receding from this afternoon. We have rescued and shifted 5,800 people in the district from their villages to safer places. The train services are slowly resuming. No casualty due to drowning has been reported so far.”

From Shuklatirth in Bharuch, the NDRF team rescued 57 persons, including a pregnant woman, 25 other women and 22 children, while 25 persons, including 17 women and two children, were rescued from Borbhata village in Ankleshwar taluka. The NDRF team also rescued 16 persons in the wee hours of Monday from Jalaram Society in Ankleshwar.

The administration issued alerts to 45 villages after several parts were flooded in Vadodara district. Sindhrot, located about 15 kilometres from Vadodara city, was under 15 feet of water and access to the bridge over the minor Mini River was cut off. Villages of Chokaripura, Mahipura, Nizampura and Krushnapura were also affected. District officials said about 700 persons had been shifted from the low-lying areas to safer locations in the taluka.

For the second consecutive day, Kadana Dam in Mahisagar continued to receive an inflow of 1.45 lakh cusecs from the Bajaj Sagar dam in Rajasthan. The dam released about 11 lakh cusecs of water flooding the Mahi river. On Monday evening, the dam was releasing 49,000 cusecs of water downstream. Officials said that the last time the dam had released 11 lakh cusecs at once was in 2006.

Surat’s Ukai Dam released water for the first time this monsoon Sunday. The dam, which received 5.34 lakhs cusec inflow Sunday taking its level up to 342.86 feet against danger level of 345 feet, released 2.49 lakh cusecs with alerts issued to 20 villages in Surat district.

At 4 pm Monday, the inflow of water into the dam recorded up to 1.27 lakhs cusecs of rainwater, while the outflow has been maintained up to 2.49 lakh cusecs to maintain the level of 343.36 feet.

The Kakrapar weir, ahead of Ukai dam, was overflowing with 2.57 lakh cusecs and the water level recorded was 171.10 feet against the maximum level of 160 feet Monday afternoon.

Authorities said the total discharge of water from the Ukai dam into the Tapi river from Sunday night that continued till Monday was recorded up to 3.76 lakh cusecs. “There was heavy rainfall recorded in the upper catchment areas of Ukai dam in MP and Maharashtra on September 15, 16 and 17. This has resulted in heavy inflow into the dam. In the current monsoon season, we were worried how we will fill the water in the dam and now that does not look like a problem as for the first time, the water level in the current season has touched 343 feet. No rainfall has been recorded Monday in the upper catchment areas and we are regularly monitoring these areas,” Ukai dam executive engineer P G Vasava told The Indian Express.

The Dev Dam of Panchmahal was flowing at its rule level of 89.65 metres, necessitating the release of water. Accordingly, the district administration has alerted seven villages in Halol taluka. The Vadodara district administration has alerted 19 villages in Waghodia and seven in Dabhoi taluka.

Heavy rains lashed Junagadh district with Visavadar taluka logging 302 mm or more than 12 inches of rain between 6 am and 4 pm on Monday causing Dhrafad and Ozat rivers to swell. With Monday’s rain, Visavadar has registered 96.16 inches of rain, 207 per cent of the long-term annual average rainfall and one of the highest for any taluka in the state this monsoon
Mendarda (190 mm), Vanthali (148 mm), Junagadh rural (103 mm) and Junagadh city (103 mm), too, experienced heavy showers. However, there were no reports of any untoward incident in the district.