Ahmedabad/ Jaipur/ Guwahati: Heavy to extremely heavy rainfall pounded several parts of north Gujarat, and Rajasthan causing a flood-like situation in many villages. In Assam, the flood condition remained grim on Monday too with overnight heavy rainfall across several parts of the state, inundating villages, towns and farmlands.
Various parts of Gujarat, including Saurashtra region, are likely to receive light to moderate rainfall in the next two days, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said in a release.
Several villages in Dhanera taluka of Banaskantha were affected due to a flood-like situation there, an official from the district administration said.
Twenty cows were killed after getting swept away in water at Jadia village, the official said, adding that senior officials have reached Dhanera to help local authorities in relief work.
Cyclone Biparjoy made landfall near Jakhau on Kutch coast in Gujarat on Thursday evening, felling several trees and electric poles and damaging houses.
As per the IMD, the rainfall in the last 24 hours was the result of a depression, remnant of cyclonic storm Biparjoy, over central parts of south Rajasthan and neighbouring region.
Banaskantha and Sabarkantha districts in north Gujarat received heavy to very heavy rainfall in the last 24 hours ending at 6 am on Monday.
Danta taluka of Banaskantha received 126 mm rain during the last 24 hours, followed by 86 mm in Amirgadh (Banaskantha), 82 mm in Khedbrahma (Sabarkantha), 74 mm in Vijaynagar (Sabarkantha), 69 mm in Poshina (Sabarkantha) and 37 mm in Vadali taluka of Sabarkantha, the State Emergency Operation Centre (SEOC) said.
In Rajsthan, around 30 people were rescued in Pali and Jalore districts and a government hospital in Ajmer was inundated as there was no let-up in rains on Monday.
Parts of Rajasthan have been pounded by heavy to extremely heavy rainfall triggered by a depression, a remnant of Cyclone Biparjoy.
The depression has now moved towards eastern parts of the desert from central and western parts, according to meteorological department officials.
A flood-like situation prevails in Jalore, Sirohi, Barmer and Pali districts that have been lashed by extremely heavy rainfall for two days, leaving many areas inundated and cutting off connectivity to several villages, the officials said.
Water also entered many houses in low-lying areas.
Disaster Management and Relief Department secretary P C Kishan said around 30 people were rescued from different places in Pali and Jalore on Sunday night.
In Ajmer, rainwater entered JLN Hospital on Sunday afternoon.
JLN Hospital Superintendent Dr Neeraj said water entered the orthopaedic ward of the hospital and 18 patients admitted there were shifted to two other wards.
“The water entered the hospital corridors and the orthopaedic ward. This happens when there is heavy rainfall in the area. The water has been cleared but the patients have not been shifted back to the ward yet. They are being treated in the other wards,” he said.
Meanwhile, IMD has issued a ‘Red Alert’ and predicted ‘very heavy’ to ‘extremely heavy’ rainfall across several districts of Assam till Thursday.
IMD’s Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) in Guwahati has issued a ‘Red Alert’ with prediction of “Heavy (7-11 cm in 24 hours) to Very Heavy (11-20 cm in 24 hours) with extremely heavy rainfall (over 20 cm in 24 hours)” over Lower Assam districts of Kokrajhar, Chirang, Baksa, Barpeta and Bongaigaon.
During the same period, “heavy to very heavy” rainfall is very likely over Dhubri, Kamrup, Kamrup Metropolitan, Nalbari, Dima Hasao, Cachar, Goalpara and Karimganj districts, it added.
The RMC has issued an ‘Orange Alert’ for Tuesday, followed by a ‘Yellow Alert’ for the subsequent two days.
‘Red Alert’ signifies taking immediate action, while ‘Orange Alert’ implies to be prepared for action and ‘Yellow Alert’ stands for watch and be updated.
According to the daily flood report of the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA), more than 33,400 people are hit due to floods in Cachar, Darrang, Dhemaji, Dibrugarh, Golaghat, Hojai, Lakhimpur, Nagaon, Nalbari, Sonitpur, Tinsukia and Udalguri districts.
Lakhimpur is the worst hit with over 25,200 people affected, followed by Dibrugarh with more than 3,800 people and Tinsukia with almost 2,700 persons, it added.
The administration has been operating one relief camp, where nine people are taking shelter, besides running 16 relief distribution centres in three districts.
At present, 142 villages are under water and 1,510.98 hectares of crop areas have been damaged across Assam, ASDMA said.
Massive erosions have been witnessed in Biswanath, Bongaigaon, Dibrugarh, Kokrajhar, Lakhimpur, Majuli, Morigaon, Nagaon, Sivasagar, Sonitpur, South Salmara and Udalguri districts, it added.
Places in Dima Hasao and Karimganj have reported incidents of landslides due to heavy rainfall.
Embankments, roads, bridges and other infrastructure have been damaged by flood waters in Sonitpur, Lakhimpur, Cachar, Dhemaji, Goalpara, Nagaon, Udalguri, Chirang, Dibrugarh, Kamrup, Karbi Anglong, Karimganj, Bongaigaon, Majuli, Morigaon, Sivasagar and South Salmara districts.
The Brahmaputra at Neamatighat, while its tributaries Puthimari at NH Road Crossing and Kopili at Kampur are flowing above the danger marks, the report said.