Army moves in as flood panic hits Gujarat

CM Narendra Modi, who was expected to carry out an aerial survey of the worst-affected areas, has not been able to do so due to bad weather. The Army has been deployed in Vadodara and Padla towns in the same district. The administration is also thinking of deploying the Army in Karlan taluka where several villages were battered by rains.

Vadodara district collector Rajiv Topna said people living in low-lying areas are being evacuated to safer places. Already 15,000 people from Vadodara have been shifted to safer places.

In Saurashtra, at least five people were killed as incessant rain continued through Thursday. Several villages in Surendranagar, Bhavnagar and Amreli district were cut off, making rescue operations difficult.

Two Army columns were kept on stand-by at Rajkot for rescue and relief. Rajkot Collector Mona Khandhar said the Army columns, equipped with communication devices and lifeboats, could be sent anywhere in the event of an emergency.

Reports received here said that three persons were drowned at Gangad village in Una taluka of Junagadh district and one in Amreli. A youth was reported missing from Rajpar village.

Savarkundla in Amreli district, which received about 10 inches of rainfall on Wednesday, remained cut off by road for the second consecutive day. Though the town experienced only light showers on Thursday, rising water levels in Navli river led to waterlogging in the entire town.

Water flowed over a four-lane bridge on the river and about 40 houses reportedly collapsed. In the main market, several houses and shops collapsed and goods were washed away by floods. The road between Bhavnagar and Mahuva was blocked following collapse of a bridge over Malan river.

Flooded tracks, meanwhile, threw train services out of gear, including on the busy Ahmedabad-Mumbai section. ‘‘Traffic on the Ahmedabad-Mumbai stretch has been badly affected because of flooding at Ranoli between Anand and Vadodara sections,’’ Ahmedabad divisional PRO K.K. Dubey said. ‘‘Of the eight trains that have Left Ahmedabad towards Mumbai this morning, only Karnavati Express has reached Vadodara.”

30 hrs in a stranded bus, they stood by each other

After 30 hours, the Rajkot Fire Brigade on Thursday morning rescued six people from a bus stuck on the bridge over Shetrunjya river near Fifad village in Amreli.

‘‘They remained in the bus without food and water for about 30 hours. We tried to rescue them with lifeguards and helicopters, but could not,’’ said Savarkundla Taluka Development Officer T. Prajapati. ‘‘The helicopter arrived around 6 pm on Wednesday. As one of the passengers, a physically challenged person, couldn’t be lifted, the other five people decided to stay back with him,’’ said Prajapati. With all routes from Amreli to Savarkundla blocked, the fire brigade took the long detour via Bhavnagar.