NDRF, Air Force on alert as heavy rains lash Gujarat; more precipitation likely in next 5 days

Several districts of Gujarat received heavy rainfall today resulting in four villages getting marooned in the worst affected Gir Somnath district, even as the NDRF had to be deployed to rescue 70 passengers of a metre gauge train and the Air Force was put on alert, officials said.

Chief Minister Vijay Rupani held an emergency meeting to assess the preparedness. He said that six to seven districts were affected due to the rains and 15 teams of National Disaster Response Force, as well as the Air Force, had been put on alert.

"We have sought five more NDRF teams. While the situation today is under control, the disaster management machinery has been asked to remain prepared as the forecast is of heavy rains in the next five days," Rupani told reporters.

As many as 70 passengers of the Delvada-Veraval metre gauge line had to be rescued by the NDRF after the train got stranded due to waterlogging at Gir Gadhada railway station, a disaster management official said.

Additional Chief Secretary Pankaj Kumar told reporters that the state government sought the help of the Air Force after four villages in Gir Gadhada taluka got cut off due to incessant rains.

With several rivers overflowing, an NDRF team has been stationed at Una also and the situation was being monitored continuously, Gir Somnath Collector Ajay Prakash tweeted.

Officials said that several districts in Saurashtra such as Gir Somnath, Amreli, Bhavnagar and Junagadh as well as districts of South Gujarat like Navsari and Valsad received heavy rainfall throughout last night and in the morning today.

Hundreds of people in different districts were relocated to safer places, including 365 in Navsari, 50 in Amreli and 85 at Olpad in Surat, disaster management officials said.

Several trains were short terminated, and all metre gauge trains in Bhavnagar division were cancelled starting tomorrow until further advice, a railway official said.

In Amreli, local residents formed a human chain to rescue 35 passengers of a bus which got stranded on a flooded road near Rajula. The bus was on its way from Surat to Bhavnagar, officials added.

A state highway was closed and Jafrabad town was flooded in Amreli, they said.

Parts of Anand district in central Gujarat and Valsad and Navsari in south Gujarat also received heavy rainfall since morning today, data released by the state emergency operation centre stated.

The data showed that, within six hours since morning, the Gir Gadhada Taluka of Gir Somnath district received 307 mm rainfall, the highest in the state, followed by Una, also in the district, at 258 mm.

Waghai in Dangs received 159 mm rainfall, followed by Jafrabad in Amreli at 136 mm, Mahuva in Bhavnagar at 93 mm, Anand at 92 mm and Rajula in Amreli district with 83 mm.