Working on railway overbridge, 30 rescued as heavy rain lashes state; orange alert till August 30

Based on the information received from the State Emergency Operation Centre (SEOC), Gandhinagar, an NDRF team rescued seven people trapped in Juni Vaghadi village of Mehsana’s Vadnagar taluka as water level in Sabarmati River rose.

During 12 hours from 6 am to 6 pm, Danta in Banaskantha received 68 mm, Idar in Sabakantha 63 mm, Dhrangadhra in Surendranagar 59 mm, Umarpada in Surat 59 mm, Maliya in Morbi 58 mm, Jamkandorna in Rajkot 57 mm, Tankara 54 mm and Morbi 50 mm rainfall.

As per the weather department forecast issued on Sunday evening, owing to several systems including low pressure area over northeast Madhya Pradesh and neighbourhood associated with an upper air cyclonic circulation, monsoon trough that passes through Bikaner, Jaipur, Gwalior and Prayagraj along with a fresh low pressure area are likely to form over northwest Bay of Bengal off Odisha-West Bengal coasts during the next 48 hours.

The IMD issued an orange alert for several districts till August 30. For Monday, heavy to very heavy rainfall has been predicted for districts of Banaskantha, Mehsana, Sabarkantha, Aravalli, Dahod, Mahisagar and Chhota-Udepur, Surendranagar and Morbi. Districts of Banaskantha, Mehsana and Sabarkantha, Bhavnagar, Valsad, Kutch, Devbhoomi Dwarka, Dahod and Mahisagar are likely to receive heavy rainfall from August 26 to 30, the IMD said.

Sabarmati Riverfront walkway closed

With heavy rainfall in the northern districts including Mehsana, Sabarkantha on Sunday, water inflow in the Sabarmati River rose and villages in both Mehsana and Sabarkantha districts have been put on alert.

The Ahmedabad fire department rescued around 30 railway workers associated with a railway overbridge in Bakrol village of Ahmedabad district. The local fire brigade authorities said that all the workers were rescued with the help of three boats by evening. “They got stuck as the water levels rose in the river. They took refuge on the under-construction pillars from where they were rescued around 5 pm,” fire department officials told The Indian Express.

In Ahmedabad city, with the release of water from Dharoi Dam and Vasna barrage (24 gates of Asana barrage were opened), the authorities closed the Sabarmati Riverfront walkway on Sunday morning till further notice.

Water levels along the Indira Bridge and Subhash bridge areas also rose. For precautionary measures, security personnel have been deployed along the riverfront on both sides. Also, intensive patrolling is being conducted on both sides in coordination with the police department.

Within 12 hours — 6 am till 2 pm – Ognaj in the northwest zone received the highest rainfall of 41.5 mm followed by Science City 37 mm, Gota 31.5 mm, Chandlodiya 29.5 mm, West zone’s Ranip 36 mm, Chandkheda 33.5 mm, Motera 33.5 mm and North zones Memko, Naroda, Kotarpur, Sardarnagar and Hanspura received around 23 mm, respectively.

From 6 am to 6 pm, Ahmedabad city’s Northwest zone received 30.64 mm rainfall followed by North Zone 22.9 mm, West zone 22.07 mm and east zone 20 mm rainfall. The city received an average of 18.9 mm rainfall.