20 students of boys’ hostel rescued, police deployed at White Rann as rain continues to batter Kutch

Sagar Bagmar, Superintendent of Police (SP), Kutch East, told The Indian Express, “Around 20 residents of a community boys’ hostel — Jairam Bapa hostel — in Rapar were rescued by the police with the help of a local organisation as water level in the surrounding area started to increase.”

Twenty other people were evacuated due to waterlogging in low-lying areas of Mangadh in Rapar taluka.

With water entering White Rann in Dhordo, police patrolling is being carried out to keep people at bay.

On Monday, 66 talukas in Gujarat received rainfall.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) issued a red alert for Kutch, Banaskantha and Patan, ending Tuesday 8.30 am, while Surendranagar, Jamnagar, Morbi and Devbhoomi Dwarka in the Saurashtra region are on an orange alert.

Police controlling traffic situation in Nakhatrana. (Express Photo)

Exceptionally heavy rainfall continued in Kutch, Patan and Banaskantha. Kutch district’s Bhachau, Nakhatrana, Gandhidham, Bhuj and Anjar recorded 105 mm, 95 mm, 95 mm, 86 mm and 75 mm rainfall, respectively, from 6 am till 6 pm Monday.

Santalpur and Radhanpur in Patan received 75 mm and 58 mm rainfall, respectively.

Banaskantha’s Bhabhor received 109 mm, Deodar 50 mm, Tharad 36 mm, Vav 32 mm and Lakhani 28 mm rainfall during this period.

In last 24 hours, ending Monday 10 am, Banaskantha’s Suigam recorded exceptionally heavy rainfall of 410 mm or 16.14 inch followed by Bhabhor 328 mm or 12.91 inch, Vav 319 mm or 12.56 inch and Tharad 299 mm or 11.73 inch.

With Rapar being the worst hit area in Kutch, several roads and highways were affected.

“Kutch district, which is under a red alert issued by the IMD for September 7 and 8, has received an average of 117 mm rainfall. With 317 mm in 24 hours, the highest amount of rainfall was received by Rapar taluka. All educational institutes were closed on Monday for safety reasons. As many as 10 state transport bus routes and 18 trips were cancelled due to heavy rainfall. No human or animal death or other untoward incident has been reported so far from the district. One team each of NDRF and SDRF have been kept on stand-by,” Kutch Collector Anand Patel stated.

Further, the premises of the ongoing Yaksha fair in Nakhatrana were flooded due to heavy rains with several tents of the stall holders collapsing. The Nakhatrana police staff made arrangements to move them to a safe place and provide them with accommodation and food.

Among the roads closed were Chitrod-Rapar-Balasar National Highway 927 C. Motorists were requested to use Rapar-Kalyanpar-Selari-Fatehgarh-Movana-Balasar as an alternative route. In the event of heavy rain, the Kutch district administration requested the citizens to avoid travel and take precautions. Due to heavy rain, water logging on the National Highway near Santalpur-Radhanpur led to a long traffic jam.

Police force was deployed near all water bodies, including Hamirsar Lake, in Bhuj city as water level continued to increase. The district Collector appealed to citizens not to go to river banks and low-lying areas.

As per the district administration data, 69 electricity poles and 257 feeders have been damaged in Kutch due to rain, affecting the power supply of 38 villages. PGVCL has restored 90 feeders so far. In the border area, the work of restoration of Khwada-Bhediabet line was carried out by GETCO.

Hamirsar Lake in Bhuj city. (Express Photo)

Villages near dams alerted

With nine dams filled in the district at present, an alert has been issued to people of villages along the low-lying areas of these structures. These include Fatehgarh of Rapar taluka, Kayla of Bhuj taluka, Kalaghogha of Mundra taluka, Berachia and Kankavati of Abdasa taluka, Nirona of Nakhatrana taluka, Suwai of Rapar taluka, Don of Mandvi taluka and Mitti dam of Abdasa taluka.

Due to the inflow of water into Tappar dam, seven of its 14 gates have been opened for safety reasons. With the Mathal reservoir 90% filled, people in its low-lying areas have also been asked to remain on alert.

In order to ensure citizens do not face any problem, a District Control Room has been started under the monitoring of Kutch Collector Anand Patel. Any person needing assistance can call the control room (02832-250923/252347), authorities said. Citizens can also call the taluka control room for any help.

In addition, real-time information about the rainfall is being updated to the state-level SEOC at Gandhinagar.