Incessant rains lash Gujarat; over 7K people relocated in two days

Ahmedabad, July 23 (PTI): Incessant rains continued to lash several parts of Gujarat, after which over 7,000 people were shifted to safer places during the last two days across the state, officials said today.

From 8 am to 4 pm today, rains lashed several parts of Banaskantha and Sabarkantha districts of north Gujarat and Valsad district of south Gujarat, said a release by the State Emergency Operations Centre (SEOC).

Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani conducted an aerial survey in parts of Surendranagar district to take stock of the situation, an official release said.

In Rajkot, Rupani held a meeting with officials and asked the administration to help people as heavy rains are expected till July 29, it added.

According to the state Director of Relief, A J Shah, 7,000 people were shifted to safer places owing to flood-like situation in several districts of the state during the last two days.

He said rescue operation by the National Disaster Response Force was going on in Surendranagar, Morbi, Amreli, Rajkot, Kutch, Banaskantha, Mehsana, Valsad and Surat districts.

As the water receded today, traffic movement has been restored on the Ahmedabad-Rajkot and Kutch-Morbi National Highways, it said.

However, 19 state highways as well as 102 internal roads in various parts of state are still closed due to waterlogging, said the release.

According to the release, Gujarat has so far received almost 56.61 per cent of the total expected rainfall.

The MeT Centre here predicted that heavy to very heavy rain would occur at several places in Gujarat during the next two days.

It also warned of extremely heavy rain at some places in Banskantha, Sabarkantha, Patan and Mehsana districts tomorrow.