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Gujarat's Rajkot waterlogged after heavy rain; IMD issues orange alert. Top updates
Heavy showers hit parts of Gujarat, with Saurashtra and Kutch receiving the highest rainfall in the country. Videos from Rajkot showed flood like situation.
Heavy showers battered parts of Gujarat on Tuesday as Saurashtra and Kutch received the highest rainfall in the country in the last 24 hours. Videos on social media showed massive waterlogging in Rajkot with vehicles submerged and people moving to safer places through flooded streets.
Weather observation
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) in its latest bulletin on Wednesday recorded rainfall (in cm) in these cities of Saurashtra and Kutch in the last 24 hours as:
Sutrapada (Dist. Gir Somnath) - 54
Veraval (Dist. Gir Somnath) - 52
Talala (Dist. Gir Somnath) - 30
Dhoraji (Dist. Rajkot) - 29
Kodinar (Dist. Gir Somnath) - 22
Mangrol (Dist. Junagadh) - 19
Jamkandorna (Dist. Rajkot) - 18
Upleta (Dist. Rajkot) - 12
Forecast
On Tuesday evening, the Met Office had issued an orange alert for Gujarat for Wednesday and Thursday while noting that the state is likely to get "heavy to very heavy rainfall (115.6 to 204.4 mm)" on these days.
Light to moderate, fairly widespread to widespread rainfall with isolated heavy to very heavy rainfall is likely to continue over Gujarat for the next three days, said IMD on Wednesday.
The state government said heavy rainfall is likely to occur in Amreli and Bhavnagar districts of the Saurashtra region and Valsad district of south Gujarat between July 19-21, and necessary instructions have been given to the local administration to deal with the situation, news agency PTI reported.
NDRF, SDRF on alert
Out of Gujarat's 206 reservoirs, 43 have been placed on high alert due to heavy inflow of water. 18 reservoirs are on alert mode, and warnings have been issued for another 19, said the state government.
National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and State Disaster Response Forces (SDRF) teams have been put on alert in view of the rain situation, it added. The state has already received around 56 per cent of the average rainfall so far this monsoon season.
