Rain brings deluge of woes to Rajkot

Rajkot: Saurashtra's commercial capital, Rajkot, plunged into total chaos, as the season's heaviest downpour left more than half of the city waterlogged, flooded a large number of residential societies and resulted in massive traffic jams.
Two people died in rain-related incidents. Fire brigade pulled out a body floating in Aji River near Ramnathpara crematorium while another man died, reportedly due to hypothermia, in Ratanpar village near the city.
At least 500 people were shifted to safer locations from Laludi Vokli and Manda Dungar.
Four children had a providential escape when the wall of a house collapsed on a rickshaw in which they were playing in the Ghanchiwad area located on the river bank. While the kids escaped with minor injuries, the rickshaw and a car parked near-by were badly damaged.
The roof of an old house also collapsed in Ramnathpara lane number 3, causing minor injuries to an old man.
The traffic in the city went for a complete toss as thousands of vehicles were stranded at various places due to heavy waterlogging in the roads and flooded underpasses.
Vehicles were stranded for nearly five hours from 8am onwards on the four-km road from Saat Hanuman to Maliyasan, which leads to Ahmedabad highway. As the work on an overbridge is on, the service road is used for commuting. But continuous downpours completely washed away the road and resulted in huge potholes too.
Similarly, the road to Jamnagar bypass from Maliyasan too witnessed frustrating traffic snarls as it was badly damaged due to rain.
A semblance of normalcy was restored after Rajkot Municipal Corporation (RMC) teams temporarily filled up the potholes.
There was knee-deep water on the road leading to Raiya village from Raiya crossroads, resulting in traffic getting stranded for nearly three hours.
The vehicles were diverted to Sadhu Vasvani Road, but due to continuous rain, this road also got flooded in no time.
Flight operations from Rajkot airport were also badly affected.
The natural drain in Popatpara and Railnagar underbridge were closed, which forced daily commuters to take a diversion to Madhapar Chowkdi, only to be stuck in knee-deep waters.
All schools and educational institutes declared a holiday while the presence in government offices was also miniscule.
Two cars were swept away near Bapa Sitaram Chowk on Mavdi Road where there was chest-high water.
A causeway connecting Manda Dungar near Aji Dam crossroads was damaged, which turned the locality into an island.
Rain waters gushed into houses in Laludi Vonkli, Popatpara, Madhapar, Raiya, Parsananagar, Kanaknagar, Subhash Road, Anandnagar, Master Society, Gayatridam Society.
People struggled to get essentials like milk on Tuesday morning as most of the roads were flooded and commercial establishments did not open, fearing that their shops would get inundated.