The India Meteorological Department on Wednesday issued a red alert in Gujarat and said that parts of the state will receive “heavy to extremely heavy rainfall” in the next two to three days, IANS reported. The state has been battered by heavy rainfall since Monday.
The weather department has predicted that a few places in Junagadh district will receive “heavy to very heavy rain” and some parts may receive “extremely heavy rain”.
Some places in the districts of Surat, Dangs, Navsari, Valsad and Tapi in south Gujarat, along with the Union Territories of Daman, and Dadra and Nagar Haveli, are likely to receive “heavy to very heavy rain” on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, according to the weather department.
The National Disaster Response Force has deployed 15 teams in Gujarat in anticipation of more rainfall, according to IANS. Out of these, two teams each are stationed in Jamnagar and Rajkot districts. One team each has been deployed in Valsad, Surat, Navsari, Gir-Somnath, Amreli, Bhavnagar, Junagadh, Botad and Morbi districts.
Meanwhile, many villages in the Saurashtra region remained cut off from surrounding areas as incessant downpour has blocked connecting roads, PTI reported.
Traffic has also been hit because as many as 157 roads are flooded. This includes a national highway in Jamnagar, 17 state highways in Rajkot, Jamnagar, Junagadh, Bhavnagar, Amreli and Surat districts, as well as 127 panchayat roads connecting villages, officials told PTI.
The state transport corporation has said that 165 routes on which it operates daily buses are closed and 522 bus trips cannot be undertaken.
On Tuesday, Junagadh district received the highest rainfall in the Saurashtra region. The Mangrol taluka received 157 mm rain in the 24 hour period that ended at 6 am on Wednesday.
Bhupendra Patel, the newly sworn-in chief minister of Gujarat, visited flood-hit areas of Saurashtra on Tuesday, The Ahmedabad Mirror reported. After a meeting with the Jamnagar district collector and other officials, he called for a comprehensive survey of the damage caused by the floods in the state.
The chief minister said that the administration has evacuated 4,760 people in Jamnagar, while the National Disaster Response Force, the State Disaster Response Force and the Air Force have rescued 144 people.
Till now, Gujarat has received 72.22% of the average rainfall so far this monsoon season, PTI reported.
IMD predicts rainfall in Delhi, UP, Odisha
The India Meteorological Department has predicted that Delhi will receive “moderate to heavy rain” starting from Wednesday night, according to PTI.
The weather department has issued an orange alert for moderate rainfall in the national capital, while isolated places may receive heavy rainfall.
It added that isolated heavy rainfall is likely in Uttarakhand and western Uttar Pradesh on September 15, Haryana on September 16 and western Rajasthan on September 17 and 18.
The department also predicted that rainfall activity will increase in Odisha and parts of West Bengal on September 18 and 19.
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