AHMEDABAD: Eight people died while hundreds were left stranded due to heavy rainfalls in Gujarat on Wednesday. The deaths were reported from Dwarka, Banaskantha, Kutch, and Rajkot districts, informed Alok Pandey, Gujarat’s Relief Commissioner. “In the past 24 hours… unfortunately, 8 people have lost their lives due to lightning strikes and being swept away in lakes from the heavy rainfall. These fatalities have been reported in Dwarka, Banaskantha, Kutch, and Rajkot districts,” he said. This has brought the death toll due to heavy rain in Gujarat to 61.“The government is maintaining a close watch on the flood situation and has issued directives to ensure immediate assistance to the affected regions,” Pandey said. Pandey informed that the authorities have successfully rescued 215 individuals and evacuated 826 people stranded due to the flood situation, primarily from districts like Navsari, Dwarka, and Bharuch. Pandey also informed that 17 state highways, 42 other roads, and 607 panchayat roads are currently closed due to high water flow, totalling 666 closed roads. “We are working to reopen these routes as quickly as possible,” Pandey said. Speaking about the amount of rainfall received, Pandey said, “In the last 24 hours, Gujarat has received 38.18 mm of rain. Borsad taluka in Anand district recorded the highest amount, with 346 mm, followed by 205 mm in Tilawada in Narmada district, 189 mm in Vadodara, 181 mm in Bharuch, and 151 mm in Chhota Udaipur.”In response to the heavy rains, the administration in the affected districts deployed personnel from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), and local fire departments to rescue people from flooded areas and relocate them to safety.According to officials, in the Belimora taluka of Navsari district, 30 citizens from the affected area were relocated to a safe place, while due to the Kim River overflowing and inundating village houses in Seemodra, located in the Mangarol taluka of Surat district, thirty-nine people and eight animals were rescued by the SDRF.According to data from the State Emergency Operation Centre (SEOC), Borsad taluka in Anand district received 314 mm of rainfall within just 4 hours starting at 8 am. As a result, around 400 people were relocated to safer areas after low-lying regions became flooded, officials reported.Anand Collector Praveen Chaudhary stated that an NDRF team was deployed, and the administration was actively working to rescue stranded individuals.In Surat, heavy rains that began on Tuesday caused flooding in the city and isolated several villages, leading to the relocation of approximately 200 people, officials said.Due to the heavy rains, the administrations in Bharuch and Navsari declared Wednesday as a holiday for educational institutions.Western Railway officials reported that 11 long-distance express trains were regulated due to rising water levels beneath a railway bridge in the Vadodara division. Additionally, four local passenger trains were cancelled. However, train movement on the downline was later restored.
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