Six die as heavy rain lashes Gujarat

Ahmedabad : Six persons died in lightning strikes while scores have been displaced as heavy rain lashed Gujarat for the past three days. The meteorological department has forecast heavy rain in 14 districts of the state in the next 24 hours.

A red alert has been issued for heavy rain in Bharuch, Chhotaudepur, Narmada, Surat, Tapi, Dang, Navsari and Valsad districts. The weather department has predicted heavy rain in Porbandar, Junagadh, Bhavnagar, Kheda, Panchmahal, Dahod, Anand and Vadodara.

In the last 24 hours, Dadiapada town in Narmada district has received the maximum rainfall of 21 inches while it was 16 inches in Umarpada, 20 inches in Tilakwada, 16 inches in Sagbara and 15 inches in Kaprada.

While briefing the media at a meeting held at the State Emergency Operations Centre, Gandhinagar on Tuesday, Disaster Management Minister Rajendra Trivedi said that so far six deaths have been reported in the state in which most of the deaths have been due to lightning.

“Not a single death has been reported because of administrative malpractice or negligence. Adequate cooperation of citizens is also being received in the rescue operations,” he stated.The minister claimed that the state administration is on stand-by and equipped for the safety and security of the lives and property of the citizens.

He said 18 NDRF teams and 18 SDRF platoons have been deployed in the affected districts of the state, while two teams have been kept on standby.Trivedi said that three of the eight districts in the state Bharuch, Chhotaudepur and Narmada have come out of the red alert zone, while five districts Surat, Tapi, Navsari, Dang and Valsad are still on red alert.

The minister said that so far 27,896 people have been relocated to safer places in the state. Out of them, 18,225 people are still in shelters while 971 people have returned home after the water receded.He added that due to the rain, 15 highways and 439 roads have been closed to vehicular traffic.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel visited the rain-affected areas of the state in a helicopter. He conducted an aerial inspection of rain-affected areas of Bodeli, Rajpipla and Navsari.Due to the heavy rain in Gujarat, the Prime Minister’s visit to the state on July 15 has been cancelled.