‘Red’ alert in Gujarat’s Junagadh after heavy rain; Mumbai showers to continue

Gujarat’s Junagadh city received 10 inches of rain in four hours on Saturday. After this the city was flooded. Junagadh is submerged in flood water on the next day i.e. on Sunday as well. Hundreds of kutcha houses have collapsed in many areas. Whereas, in the areas which were submerged in water, all the belongings of the people have been destroyed. Carcasses of hundreds of animals that came under the grip of flood have also been found.

The Meteorological Department has issued a red alert for heavy rains in Bhavnagar, Navsari, Junagadh and Valsad. In view of this, Section 144 has been imposed in Junagadh district. People have been asked not to leave their houses unnecessarily till the night of 24th July. Visiting all tourist places in and around Junagadh has been banned. People have been asked to stay away from dams and check dams.

The low-lying areas of Junagadh city are filled with water up to 6 feet. Police and rescue teams are busy in evacuating people.

After the sudden rains, the water filled in the settlements has not yet come out. Rescue teams are working continuously to rescue the trapped people. People are being shifted to safe places along with essential goods. However, people are still surrounded by flood water in many areas.

Due to flood in Junagadh’s Kalwa river, the local rivers of ‘Gir Forest’ have been flooded. Due to this, lions have started coming out of the forests.

Heavy to very heavy rain pounded several Gujarat districts and Saurashtra regions, triggering a flood-like situation in urban areas and isolating villages.

After witnessing incessant rainfall on Saturday, Mumbai is likely to get some respite from the heavy showers as the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has downgraded the Maharashtra capital’s ‘orange’ alert to ‘yellow’ alert for Sunday.

The Thane district administration in Maharashtra sounded a flood alert for villages in Bhiwandi, Shahapur and Vasai talukas after the water levels in Tansa Dam reached close to the overflow levels on Saturday.

With Mumbai experiencing relentless heavy rainfall this week, the health department of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has issued an advisory for leptospirosis due to the rise in cases this season.

According to the IMD, light/moderate fairly widespread to widespread rainfall with isolated heavy to very heavy rainfall is likely to continue over Saurashtra and Kutch on July 24, Gujarat region on July 23. A red alert has been issued for Junagadh, Jamnagar, Devbhumi Dwarka, Kutch, Surat, Valsad, Navsari and Surat.

The MeT department also warned fishermen to not venture along and off the north Gujarat coast from July 22 to July 26 saying squally weather conditions were very likely to prevail during this period.