Heavy rains lash Saurashtra; Guj monsoon deficit contracts 10% in one week

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Several parts of Gujarat's Saurashtra region on Wednesday received very heavy rainfall with more showers expected in the next four days, officials said.

The fresh spell of downpour that started a few days ago will help reduce the rainfall deficiency of Gujarat, they said . The IMD has forecast widespread rainfall till Friday with heavy to very heavy rainfall in some parts of the state with isolated extremely heavy showers in some districts of Saurashtra and south Gujarat regions during the next four days. As per the State Emergency Operation Centre (SEOC), parts of Gir Somnath, Amreli, Rajkot and Bhavnagar districts received rainfall of over 100 mm in 12 hours till Wednesday evening.

Sutrapada and Babra talukas of Gir Somnath and Amreli districts received 138 and 130 mm rainfall, respectively, it said. As many as 162 out of 251 talukas of Gujarat witnessed wet spell on Wednesday. As per SEOC figures, Narmada, Surat, Navsari and Bharuch districts of south Gujarat received heavy to very heavy on Tuesday. Despite the recent spell, Gujarat continues to remain in the red zone as a deficient state with 40 per cent below normal rainfall, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said in its latest update. Rainfall in the last one week has, however, helped the state reduce its deficiency by nearly 10 per cent. As against the average rainfall of 624.8 mm (between June-September), Gujarat has so far received 374.5 mm rainfall, the IMD said. Out of 33 districts in Gujarat, Gandhinagar and Aravalli have been categorised as having "large deficient," or over 60 per cent below normal rainfall.

Only Valsad and Devbhumi Dwarka have been categorised as having received "normal" rainfall. The remaining districts continue to be rainfall deficient.