Heavy rainfall continued to lash southern Gujarat districts like Bharuch, Surat, Valsad and Navsari for the second consecutive day on Tuesday with the India Meteorological Department (IMD) forecasting heavy rain till September 9, mostly in the southern districts.
According to a report of the State Emergency Operation Center (SEOC) in Gandhinagar, during the last 24 hours ending 6 am on Tuesday, Valia taluka of Bharuch received 297 mm (12 inches) of rain. Between 6 am and 6 pm, Valia recorded the highest in the state, at 156 mm, among the 187 talukas that received showers on Tuesday.
Bharuch’s Netrang taluka recorded 127 mm of rainfall, followed by Surat’s Umarpada (105 mm) and Valsad taluka in the district (104 mm) till 4 pm Other talukas that received heavy rainfall were Jotna (95 mm) in Mehsana, Vapi (85 mm) in Valsad, Palsana (77 mm) in Surat, Pardi (69 mm) in Valsad, Mangrol (66 mm) in Surat and Ropar (65 mm) in Kutch.
The IMD has issued an orange alert, a forecast of heavy to very heavy rain in Banaskantha, Bharuch, Surat, Tapi, Navsari and Valsad districts on Wednesday. Also, the districts of Patan, Mehsana, Sabarkantha, Ahmedabad, Anand, Vadodara, Chhota Udepur, Narmada and Dang as well as Surendranagar, Rajkot, Amreli, Bhavnagar, Morbi, Gir Somnath and Botad in Saurashtra and Kutch are under a yellow alert — forecast of heavy rain — while light to moderate rainfall is expected in other parts of the state.
A review meeting under the chairmanship of the relief director was held at the SEOC on Tuesday. In view of IMD’s forecast of heavy to light rain across the state till September 9, nodal officials of all departments were asked to be on alert.
The rainfall activity over the state is being attributed to the monsoon trough passing through Jaisalmer, Udaipur, centre of low pressure area over west Vidarbha and neighbourhood, Ramagundam, Kalingapatnam and then towards southeastwards to east central Bay of Bengal, along with a cyclonic circulation over Saurashtra and neighbourhood.
In last 24 hours ending 6 am on Tuesday, more than 10-inch or 254 mm of rainfall was recorded at Songadh taluka and more than 9 inch (228 mm) in Vyara taluka in Tapi. Dang district received the highest average rainfall of more than 6 inch (152 mm), while the entire Tapi district received more than 5 inch (127 mm) of rain.
As far as the talukas are concerned, Mangrol in Surat, Vaghai in Dang, Tilakwada in Narmada as well as Uchchal and Bharuch talukas in Tapi received more than 7 inch (178 mm) of rain till 6 am on Tuesday. Also, Dolwan in Tapi, Subir in Dang, Nadiad in Kheda and Vansda taluka in Navsari received more than 6 inch (152 mm) of rain. About 5 inch (127 mm) of rain was recorded at Lunawada in Mahisagar and Kapdwanj in Kheda.
Besides, Morwa Hadaf and Godhra in Panchmahal, Karjan in Vadodara, Himmatnagar and Prantij in Sabarkantha, Nandod and Garudeshwar in Narmada, Ahwa in Dang, Valod in Tapi, Kathlal in Kheda, Virpur in Mahisagar, Bayad in Aravalli and Mehsana taluka received more than 4 inch (102 mm) of rain.
In all, while 22 talukas received more than 3 inch (76 mm) of rain, 39 talukas received more than 2 inch (51 mm), 45 talukas more than 1 inch (25.4 mm) and 48 talukas got less than an inch (25.4 mm) of rain. Thus, 183 talukas received an average of more than an inch of rain during the last 24 hours ending 6 am.
As on Tuesday, Gujarat has this season recorded an average annual rainfall of more than 116 per cent. Kutch zone has recorded the highest rainfall of more than 179 per cent, followed by Saurashtra zone with more than 125 per cent and South Gujarat zone with more than 117 per cent of rainfall.
East Central Gujarat has recorded more than 113 per cent of rain, while north Gujarat has so far recorded 95 per cent of the season’s annual average rainfall.