Teams of Army, IAF, NDRF, SDRF, local police and firebrigade have been pressed to rescue people stuck in floods. DH Photo
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will carry out an aerial survey of the flood-hit Banaskantha district later in the day.
Gujarat deputy chief minister Nitin Patel said this in Gandhinagar, adding that the visit would depend on suitable weather.
The North Gujarat districts of Banaskantha, Sabarkantha and Patan have been inundated due to continuous rains in last 36 hours, with places as Tharad receiving 24 inches of rain, Dhanera about 20 inches, Dantiwada 18 inches, Palanpur 15 inches, Deesa and Diyodar 13 inches, Patan 12 inches and Vadgam about 11 inches of rains.
"As many as three persons have lost their lives in last 24 hours in Banaskantha district," Patel said.
In fact, heavy rains in last 36 hours has seen North Gujarat receive up to 95% of its seasonal rains at 659 mm. 22,725 people have been evacuated in Banaskantha district in last 24 hours.
The state, on the other hand, has so far received 66% of its total seasonal rains at 534 mm. Gujarat normally receives 810 mm of rains in a particular monsoon season.
Several villages have been marooned and cut off with roads washed away. Teams of Army, IAF, NDRF, SDRF, local police and firebrigade have been pressed to rescue people stuck in floods.
"The Indian Army has rescued over 113 people, with efforts on to evacuate 30-40 more from Sirohi and Jhabadiya village in North Gujarat," defence spokesperson Wing Commander Abhishek Matimaan said.
IAF, that has four MI-17V5 helicopters pressed in to rescue operations winched over 14 persons from Deesa.
They also dropped over 300 kg of food packets at designated places in the district to aid people marooned in the villages. “More than two lakh food packets have been sent to Banaskantha from other districts for distribution,” Pankaj Kumar, principal secretary, revenue, Gujarat, said.
Thankfully the rains have taken a respite in North Gujarat, paving way for speeding up rescue and relief operations in the region.
Meanwhile, the state has put 38 of the 203 dams across the state on high alert, with 16 others on alert and warnings have been issued at 18 others. While Dholidhaja, vansal and nimbam dams in Surendranagar; Machchhu-1 and Ghodadhroi in Morbi and Kankawati dam in Jamnagar districts have received up to 90 of water storage capacity, 23 dams in Saurashtra, four in Kutch, four in Central Gujarat and one dam in South Gujarat are full to their capacity.
In Ahmedabad, that sees Sabarmati river cut through the middle of the city, over 50 families from low-lying area have been evacuated to safety. With water being released from Dharoi dam across Sabarmati river in the upstream area about 60-70 km from Ahmedabad, the low-lying areas in the city are expected to receive waters by late Tuesday evening. To prevent any casualty, the local authorities have asked people to move to higher areas for safety.
“We are ready for the situation and have deployed police and administrative personnel to aid people in case of eventuality,” Mukesh Kumar, Municipal Commissioner, Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation, said.