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So much so that Gujarat chief minister Anandiben Patel has ordered deputation of
rescue teams consisting of fire and emergency services as well National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) for rescue and relief activities in regions like Kutch, Patan, Banaskantha and other parts of North Gujarat which has seen water logging and civic damage.
Chief secretary of Gujarat has informed that four teams of NDRF are active in Banaskantha district, along with two teams of State Reserve Police (SRP) for relief activity in the district whereas one NDRF team and two team of Border Security Force (BSF) are engaged in Kutch district.
In a meeting held with senior government officials to take stock of the situation, Patel asked respective officials to ensure repair roads, depute health teams and restore power in affected areas at the earliest.
While the state government sources refused to confirm the number of deaths due to heavy rains and flooding, the estimated deaths is believed to be around 10. The chief minister has, however, ordered district collectors to pay immediately Rs 4 lakh cash in case of human casualties and cash doles for damage to household items as well as animal casualties.
The Gujarat government has also directed the power department to use additional manpower for restoration of power supply and repair of 20 substations in affected 2,929 villages in North Gujarat.
While heavy rains have brought down the state's monsoon deficit, the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued an alert for heavy to very heavy rains in next 48 hours due to the deep depression. "The deep depression is likely to weaken after 48 hours and hence the alert has been sounded off for heavy to very heavy rains till then," said Manorama Mohanty of IMD Ahmedabad.
According to Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), a low pressure area over south-west Rajasthan and part of Gujarat had formed which later intensified to deep depression resulting in heavy to very heavy rains.
According to IMD data, among districts in north Gujarat, Banaskantha alone received a cumulative rainfall of 532 millimeter as on July 28, a 105 per cent rise over normal rainfall of 259 mm in the area. Heavy rains in north Gujarat districts like Banaskantha, Sabarkantha and Patan resulted in damaged rail tracks and roads along with disrupted power supply.
Meanwhile, parts of the state like central, southern and Kutch region also saw flooding of rivers even as the state government put some reservoirs on high alert of overflowing. Alerts have also been sounded off for coastal regions.
