Rain gods still play hide and seek in Gujarat

Though heavy rains at some places in Gujarat on Sunday came as a sigh of relief to a few, many other parts of the state still remain dry.

According to the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), rains and thunder showers are likely to occur at few places in south Gujarat and Saurashtra region and isolated places at north Gujarat and Kutch region in the next 24 hours.

Till 8.30 am on Sunday, Ahmedabad has received 1.4 mili metre of rainfall, Vadodara at 3.7 mili metre and Surat at 88.1 mili metre.

The IMD had forcasted that the four-month south-west monsoon rains over the country will be normal at 100 per cent, subject to a model error of plus, minus five per cent, reducing the chance of draught to four per cent, but this seems not to hold true for Gujarat.

While one-and-a half months of the monsoon season has passed, so far the state has received only 149 mili metre of rainfall, which is 33 per cent lower than the average rainfall of 222 mili metre.

Last year the state had received a rainfall of 1,048 mili metre compared with an average of 861 mili metre, which was 22 per cent higher.

The entire Surat city was inundated by heavy rains from early Sunday morning. Over 125 mili metre of rainfall was recorded in city areas between 8 am and 4 pm, leading to formation of huge water puddles at many places.

The situation was especially worse in low-lying areas of the city. Many roads were completely submerged under rain water, causing several difficulties for vehicle drivers.

Normal life was badly disrupted due to the rainfall. The regional weather department office has predicted heavy rains to continue for the next 24 hours.

Vadodara received a total rainfall of 23.8 mili metre in the last 12 hours.

According to the meteorological department, rain and thunder showers are likely to occur in the next 24 hours.

R K Bakliwal, director, meteorological department for Gujarat, said, "A low pressure belt is being created near the Orissa coast at the Bay of Bengal and if it gets intensified, it may lead to substantial rainfall in the state in the next three days."

"After abundant rainfall in all parts of the state last year, we expected this year will be the same as per the forecast of the meteorological department but the delayed rainfall has already affected us. The agricultural productivity is bound to go down, almost all the crops are affected, we will be representing to the government to take immediate measures," said Bipin Desai, convener, Gujarat Khedut Sangarsh Samiti, a union of farmers.