Floods kill 8 more in Gujarat
CALAMITY PM takes stock of situation in floodhit regions, more than 36,000 moved to safer areas
Worsening floods killed eight people in 24 hours in Gujarat as rescue teams raced to reach hundreds of people marooned in stricken towns and villages on Tuesday.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi took stock of the flood situation in the state and held highlevel meeting with officials in Ahmedabad on Tuesday. Thousands of people have been marooned due to incessant rains in Banaskantha and Patan districts in north Gujarat.
More than 36,000 people have been moved to safe areas and helicopters and boats were used to rescue the worst-hit. In the past 24 hours, at least 12 talukas of Banaskantha, Patan and Sabarkantha districts received over 200 mm of rainfall, a release issued by the State Emergency Operations Centre (SEOC).
Torrential rain and the release of water from dams in neighbouring Rajasthan state created havoc in northern Gujarat, a government statement said.
Army and air force helicopter rescue teams picked up more than 1,000 people from villages in the state cut off by rising water levels, it added.
About 80 people are believed to have been killed in Gujarat since the start of the monsoon a month ago. Ahmedabad has had more than 50 centimetres (20 inches) of rain in four days, twice the average for July.
“The rescue operations are going on in full swing as we are taking the help of Army, IAF, BSF, NDRF and local police. On Tuesday, we rescued around 400 people in Banaskantha with the help of three helicopters of the Air Force,” said state health minister Shanker Chaudhary, who is stationed at Deesa to oversee the rescue operations. The IAF is also air dropping food packets in the affected areas.
With the water level in three of the major rivers of north Odisha crossing the danger mark on Tuesday, authorities in Keonjhar, Bhadrak and Jajpur districts stepped up rescue-andrelief operations, said officials.
The state government has already mobilised ODRAF, NDRF and fire services personnel to the flood-prone areas and kept power boats ready for the rescue operations. Road transport had been disrupted at some places, said special relief commissioner (SRC) B P Sethi.
IMD sources said a wellmarked low pressure might cause the rains to intensify over the day in north Odisha.
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday said there is no flood-like situation in the state, which was being lashed by heavy rains.
“There is no flood-like situation in the state as yet. Water levels are still below (danger level) though some low-lying areas of Labhpur in Birbhum district, Purulia, Ghatal in West Midnapore and Goghat, Arambagh in Hooghly districts have been inundated,” she said.
Banerjee held a meeting with senior officials at the secretariat to monitor the situation with the MeT office predicting more rains in the next 48 hours in the state.