Over 11,900 people have been shifted to shelter homes as heavy rains lashed several parts of Gujarat on Sunday, leading to a flood-like situation in several villages, PTI reported.
Rescue operations were carried out in the Narmada, Bharuch, Vadodara, Dahod and Panchmahal districts.
The Sardar Sarovar Dam on the Narmada River touched its full reservoir level of 138.68 metres, following which about 10 lakh cusecs of water was released from it, reported PTI. This caused massive flooding in the low-lying areas of the Narmada district.
The district administration ordered schools and colleges to remain shut on Monday as a precautionary measure.
The water level of the Narmada River was recorded at 37.72 feet, nearly 10 feet above the danger mark of 28 feet. Due to this, over 6,000 people living along the banks of the Narmada River in the Bharuch district were shifted to safer places in the last two days, reported PTI.
Further, 1 lakh 98 thousand cusecs of water was released from the Ukai Dam on the Tapi River, according to the Hindustan Times. Rain-fed rivers such as Orsang, Heran, Mahi, Meshri and Panam are currently swollen.
Two battalions of the National Disaster Relief Force are deployed in Narmada, while one each is present at Panchmahal, Rajkot, Junagadh and Vadodara. The State Disaster Response Force has been pressed into service in Vadodara, Banaskantha, Bharuch and Narmada.
The rainfall also led to train traffic on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad route being halted for nearly 12 hours. The service was stopped at around 11:50 pm on Sunday after water levels in Narmada surged above the danger mark. It resumed around Monday noon.
The India Meteorological Department has issued a red alert for Panchmahal, Dahod, Kheda, Aravalli, Mahisagar, Banaskantha, and Sabarkantha districts, predicting “isolated extremely heavy rainfall” till Tuesday morning.
An orange alert was issued for Saurashtra and Kutch. The regions are likely to see light thunderstorms with lightning and light to moderate rain.
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