Surat on high alert for possibility of flood

Surat, 23 September 2013

Update: Increased level of panicky among people of Surat at this time is majorly due to WhatsApp messaging. There’s mad rush among Surati people for stocking milk, vegetables and items of daily use early in the morning. They fear worst flood like situation and therefore stocking the things. DeshGujarat spoke to Municipal Commissioner at around 8.00 am. He was on the bank of river Tapi at that time. He said the water level at dam side is decreasing and that is a good news. There’s no possibility of serious flood like situation matching to year 2006, he said.

The city of Surat is again on flood alert due to huge water release from Ukai dam.

People in low lying areas like Navdi ovara were busy vacating their homes throughout the Sunday night due to flood alert.

The flood is likely to show its effect at around 8.30 am and then after.

There’s some panicky in Surat due to the alert. The people in Surat have experienced worst kind of flood situation in year 2006.

All schools and colleges are declared closed today.

The background

Due to 55 inch rain in upstream areas of in last 36 hours, at 8.00 on Sunday, the inflow was more than 6 lakh cusec. To match this, the outflow was raised to 2.26 lakh cusec. Surat’s central zone areas, Rander and Katargam were put on alert following this. Flood gate are shut down at Varav, Amroli, Ved darwaja and Makai bridge areas. At 11.00 pm on Sunday, the inflow at Ukai dam was 5.45 lakh cusec, the outflow was raised to 3.27 lakh cusec from earlier 2.25 lakh. The level of water at causeway was above 8.30 meter in the night. The water level at Nehru bridge was 2.70 meter. With added water, flooding is possible near SK Nagar and Swaminarayan Mandir. Gutter water may also make trouble in Kadarshani nal, Varav, Halpativas, Vedroad Pandol area. People in Atalji nagar and Nehru nagar were shifted to safer places late in the night. The administration was on alert for eventual situation of flood in Narayan nagar area. Inflow was noticed even high at 6.42 lakh level at Ukai in the midnight, while outflow was same 3.27 lakh. Level of water at Ukai dam was 342.11 ft against rule level of 342.17 ft. Outflow at upstream Hathnur dam was 1,72,976 cusec with water level of 212.10 meter. At Kakrapar outflow was 2.76 lakh cusec with water level at 171.60 ft. The latest figure available suggest inflow at Ukaid am at 6,45,390 cusec, outflow 2,26,123 cusec with water level at dam at 341.77 ft. Ukdai dam’s 6 out of total 18 gates were opened at 2-4 gate measurement.