Gandhinagar:

Gujarat is witnessing another spell of heavy rainfall from today under the influence of a well marked low pressure area over South East Vidarbha which has re-activated the Monsoon.

Over 150 talukas of the state had witnessed rain till evening today of which the highest 59 mm was record (from 8am to 6 pm) in Dahegam of Gandhinagar.

Met has somewhat intensified its rainfall warning with raising it to ‘heavy to very heavy’ from earlier only heavy spell prediction but the State Emergency Operation Center at Gandhinagar has said that the situation was not likely to be worrying.

Two districts of the total 33, Jamnagar and Morbi have been alerted as a precautionary measure.

The met bulletin today said that apart from the upper air cyclonic circulation over South Pakistan, adjoining Arabian sea and Kutch extending from 1.5 to 2.1 km above sea level (which was not so strong a system), a well marked low pressure over South East Vidarbha with associated upper air cyclonic circulation extending up to 9.5 km above sea level persists.

Heavy rainfall warning for August 21 (tomorrow) is HEAVY TO VERY HEAVY RAIN VERY LIKELY AT ISOLATED PLACES OVER GUJARAT REGION, SAURASHTRA, KUTCH AND IN DIU, DAMAN, DADARA NAGAR HAVELI.

On August 22 up to morning of August 23 it was- HEAVY TO VERY HEAVY RAIN VERY LIKELY AT ISOLATED PLACES OVER GUJARAT REGION AND IN DAMAN, DADARA NAGAR HAVELI; HEAVY RAIN VERY LIKELY AT ISOLATED PLACES OVER SAURASHTRA, KUTCH AND IN DIU.

Meanwhile, Deputy Mamlatdar of the State Emergency Operation Center (SEOC) here which keeps a watch on the rain situation, coordinates the rescue and relief operations in any emergency and also issues alerts, Sachin Patel today said that only 2 of the 33 districts have been alerted.

‘There was nothing worrisome so far as the spell of rain this time around are not likely to be of a very strong intensity. Yet as a precautionary measure the alerts for the two districts have been issued as Kankavati dam (Jamnagar) and Machchhu 2 dam (Morbi) were around 90% filled up,’ Patel said.He said that no other district has been asked to sound alert so far.

A total of 159 talukas have seen rain till 6 pm this evening of which the highest was 59 mm in Dahegam of Gandhinagar. Vapi in Valsad has seen 56 mm while Ahmedabad city and Dharampur in Valsad has seen 53 mm each. A total of 25 talukas seen rainfall of around once inch or above. Gandhinagar city and Surat city have seen 49 and 43 mm respectively.

According to AMC control the up to 8 pm tonight Ahmedabad city has seen an average rainfall of 45.54mm. Of which the highest of 63.64 mm was recorded in the west zone of the city. New West zone 61.50 mm, Central zone 53.50mm, North Zone 43mm, South zone 27.25mm and East zone 24.34 mm. Meethakali underpass in the city was closed between 0455pm to 6pm today owing to water logging. Three gates of Vasana barrage has been opened (one by one ft and two by 2 ft to discharge the rain water). Water level of Sabarmati river was 132 meters at 8 pm and was receding.

Owing to rain and cloudy weather the temperatures across Gujarat were moderate with the highest of 34.8 °C at Deesa, Ahmedabad saw the maximum of only 30.2°C which was 2 notches below normal.

DeshGujarat