Monsoon arrives in Gujarat early; 3 killed in Morbi wall collapse

The family was sleeping in their house in Sundaribhavani village under Halvad taluka when a wall collapsed on them. A woman, her husband and the latter’s brother suffered serious injuries and died on the spot. They were in the age group of 25 to 30 years, an official from Halvad police station said.

In another incident, a woman was killed after being struck by lightning in Jhikiyari village of the district on Sunday evening.

Rainfall was recorded in 91 talukas across 33 districts on Monday with Dhansura in Aravalli district recording the highest rainfall of 70 mm in 12 hours from 6 am.

Pre-monsoon activity has been witnessed in the state over the past week.

Other areas that received heavy rainfall were Mansa in Gandhinagar at 65 mm, Chotila in Surendranagar at 58 mm and Modasa in Aravalli and Vijaynagar in Sabarkantha that received 50 mm each.

Patan, Banaskantha, Kheda, Amreli, Jamnagar, Kutch, Anand, Devbhumi Dwarka, Mahisagar, Surat, Junagadh, Chhota Udepur, Morbi, Vadodara, Dang, Bharuch, Rajkot, Ahmedabad, Panchmahal, Bhavnagar, Tapi, Porbandar, Navsari and Dahod received heavy rainfall.

As per the district flood control department of Navsari, a water logging incident has been reported at the railway culvert wherein people were facing problems and along with this some of the low-lying areas were inundated into the rainwater.

The rainfall measured in Navsari, Tapi and Dangs district in last 24 hours till Monday evening is Khergam 27 mm, Chikhli 8 mm, Jalalpore 20 mm, Navsari 7 mm, Ahwa 10 mm, Saputara 63mm, Vaghai 34 mm, Subir 21 mm, Valod 5 mm, Songadh 17 mm, Nizar 2mm.

According to the district administration office, over 48 houses in 7 grampanchayats in Kukarmunda taluka of Tapi district had witnessed damages due to the high-speed winds and rainfall Sunday night. The roofs of the houses were flown into the air, in some houses, the wall collapsed and many other houses were damaged. The home inmates shifted themselves to a safer places due to such high-speed winds.

The Tapi district administration had on Monday sent their teams to the spot in the villages to assess the damage caused by high-speed winds.

Tapi district collector H K Vadhvaniya said, “We have carried out a survey and got its report about the loss. Our teams had talked to each and every person in the districts whose houses were damaged due to high-speed winds. We will prepare a report about such loss and sent it to state disaster management department in Gandhinagar. They will allot grant and then we will distribute it to beneficiaries. We are taking care of them and have supplied food packets to them.”

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued a forecast of heavy rainfall for Tuesday and Wednesday across the state and light to moderate rainfall till June 17.

“Heavy rain very likely at in districts of Kutch, Devbhumi Dwarka, Jamnagar, Morbi, Patan, Banaskantha, Sabarkantha, Aravalli and Gandhinagar. Light thunderstorm with lightning and surface wind 30- 40 kmph (in gust) accompanied with light to moderate rain very likely in districts of Gujarat, Saurashtra and Kutch,” the IMD forecast for Tuesday stated.

Light thunderstorm with lightning accompanied with light to moderate rain is very likely in Banaskantha, Sabarkantha, Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar, Mehsana, Anand, Vadodara, Bharuch, Surat, Dang, Tapi, Navsari and Valsad as well as in all the districts of Saurashtra and Kutch on Wednesday.

Sunday’s rainfall resulted in a dip in temperature to below 40 degrees Celsius across the state, barring Kandla port. Kandla airport recorded 38.8 degrees Celsius, Bhuj and Surendranagar 37.8, Deesa 36.6, Gandhinagar 36.5, Rajkot 36.3, Keshod and Naliya 36, Bhavnagar 35.4, Ahmedabad 34.7, Vadodara 34.6, Porbandar 34.4, Valsad 34 and Surat 33 degrees Celsius.

(With PTI)