After a dry spell, rains return to central, north Gujarat

Rains lashed several parts of central and north Gujarat today after a dry spell this monsoon that had led to the state government terming the situation as "worrisome" in a review meeting held early this month.

Officials said that, since early morning today, it had been raining in central Gujarat districts like Panchmahals, Kheda, Anand and Ahmedabad and northern ones like Mehsana, Aravalli and Sabarkantha.

According to figures released by the state government, Kapadvanj in Kheda district received 145 mm of rains, Godhra town of Panchmahals received 120 mm, Sanand in Ahmedabad district received 110 mm and Matar in Kheda received 104 mm rainfall.

In the northern part of the state, Kalol in Gandhinagar district received 100 mm rainfall, Malpur in Aravalli got 88 mm, Kadi in Mehsana district got 79 mm and Posina in Sabarkantha received 70 mm rainfall.

They said that Ahmedabad city, which had so far received 150 mm of rains during the current monsoon, received 102 mm in just four hours of rain in the morning today.

It caused low lying areas to flood which in turn led to traffic snarls and also instances of trees getting uprooted.

The Meteorological Department has predicted heavy to very heavy rains for the next three days in the state due to a well marked low pressure area lying over the state.

Though south Gujarat and some other parts of the state had seen rains in early July, a dry spell since then had left 44 talukas in the state with less than 125 mm (5 inches) of rain till the first week of August.

During its review meeting held on August 7, due to a poor monsoon, the state government had come up with mitigating measures like increase in electricity supply by two hours to the farm sector to save standing crops, providing fodder at Rs 2 per kilogram and replenishing a dam in Kutch to maintain drinking water supply.