Gujarat: 8 killed, over 800 relocated as heavy rains batter parts of state

As many as eight persons were killed in rainrelated incidents and more than 800 people evacuated after swollen rivers and overflowing dams cut off several villages and inundated lowlying areas in large parts of Gujarat amid torrential downpour on Wednesday officials saidNormal life was thrown out of gear as heavy rains pounded south and Gujarat districts like Vadodara Surat Bharuch and Anand since the morning prompting authorities to declare a holiday for schools and colleges in some places for the day they saidTrain services were also affected in some areasEight persons have died due to heavy rains which lashed several parts of Gujarat during the last 24 hours We have also shifted 826 persons to safer places during that period In view of the present situation we have deployed 20 teams of State Disaster Response Force SDRF and 11 teams of NDRF in affected districts said state Commissioner of Relief Alok Kumar PandeyIn view of the widespread rains and red alert for extremely heavy showers issued by the India Meteorological Department IMD for several districts control rooms are working round the clock to monitor the situation and help stranded people he saidPandey said all the 206 major dams in the state are receiving fresh inflow of water and the Sardar Sarovar Dam the biggest in Gujarat is now 54 per cent fullThe administration in rainbattered districts of Vadodara Surat Bharuch and Anand deployed personnel from the NDRF and SDRF and local fire brigade teams to rescue people from flooded areas and relocate them to safe placesBorsad taluka in Anand district received 354 mm of rainfall in a 12hour period between 6 am and 6pm State Emergency Operation Centre SEOC data showedMany people were shifted to safer places after lowlying areas were flooded officials saidBorsad was followed by Tilakwada of Narmada district 213 mm Padra of Vadodara 199 mm Vadodara taluka 198 mm Bharuch taluka 185 mm Nasvadi of Chhotaudepur 156 mm and Nandod of Narmada district 143 mmAnand Collector Praveen Chaudhary said an NDRF team was pressed into service and the administration was working to rescue stranded peopleHeavy rains that hit Surat on Tuesday flooded the city and cut off several villages necessitating relocation of around 200 persons the officials saidThe administration in Bharuch and Navsari announced a holiday for educational institutes due to incessant showersA team of NDRF personnel rushed to Limbada under Mangrol taluka of Surat district to rescue stranded people an official saidAs many as 132 roads in the district were blocked as a precautionary measureDue to heavy rains the Bharuch district administration declared a holiday for educational institutionsAs many as 11 longdistance express trains were regulated due to the rise in water level under a railway bridge in the Vadodara division while four local passenger trains were cancelled Western Railway officials saidThe train movement was later restored in the down line they saidThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever