Heavy rains bring relief to a parched Gujarat

After a prolonged dry spell, almost all regions of Gujarat experienced moderate to heavy rainfall in the past 24 hours.

The spell of rains, that is likely to continue for the next couple of days, will bring some respite for areas that have been reeling under deficient rainfall conditions in the past two months.

However, the overall rainfall is still below normal.

A low pressure belt created at the Bay of Bengal near the Orissa coast is instrumental in bringing the rains to Gujarat, Rajasthan and parts of central India.

Almost all parts of Gujarat received rainfalls from south Gujarat and Saurashtra region to north Gujarat and Kutch, said the meteorological department.

"Rains will continue in the state in the coming days. Substantial rainfall is expected in almost all parts of the state for at least next 48 hours," R K Bakliwal, director, meteorological centre, Ahmedabad, said.

According to the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), rains and thundershowers are likely at a few places in south Gujarat and the Saurashtra region and isolated places in north Gujarat and Kutch region in the next 48 hours.

Early this year, IMD had forecast that the 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 drought to four per cent, but this seems not very true for Gujarat.

Ahmedabad received a rainfall of 46.8 mm on Tuesday till 5.30 pm. The total rainfall in Vadodara was 345.5 mm during the current monsoon season so far. In the last 24 hours Vadodara has recorded a rainfall of 32.6 mm.

After a long dry spell, strong rains lashed the entire south Gujarat region on Tuesday. Heavy rainfall was recorded at most of the places in the region. On an average, two to three inch rainfall was recorded in Surat city.

Navsari district received over eight inches of rainfall in less than five hours on Monday. Vapi, Umargam, Pardi and Dharampur in Valsad also recorded between one and five inches of rainfall in the last 24 hours.

Fishermen have been advised not to venture into the sea and to move their fishing equipment from the sea shore to safer distance.