Ahmedabad: Even as monsoon was likely to hit Gujarat any time next week almost on time, Met department today issued heavy to very heavy rain fall warning in parts of Gujarat in the next 36 hours while continuing spell of moderate to heavy pre monsoon rain has thrown life out of gear at some places including Surat and Valsad in South Gujart both of which have received over five inches of rain in last 24 hours.

Ahmedabad Met Center Director and senior meteorologist Jayanta Sarkar today said that Monsoon would arrive in Gujarat next week. He said that the current heavy pre monsoon was caused by a cyclonic system over the state and should not be misunderstood as monsoon rain.
According to IMD the Southwest Monsoon has reached Vengurla (on Maharashtra-Goa Border and would hit Mumbai this weekend. It would advance further to cover southern Gujarat.

If the monsoon hits Gujarat next week as predicted, it would be almost on dot with regard to timing which is June 15 normally.

Meanwhile many areas of the state experienced rain today as well.

Amreli saw over two inches of rain in some areas today while Rajkot also received over an inch of shower. Gir-Somnath, Botad, Gandhinagar, Surat, Porbandar, Surendranagar and many other districts also saw light to moderate rains. Ahmedabad had seen around 10 mm of rain last night. Neighbouring union territory of Diu saw over four inches of rain today.

Rain and cloudy weather has made the weather pleasant in most parts of the state including Ahmedabad where maximum temperature at 36.8°C was 2.7 °C lower than the normal. Minimum temperature at 24.2°C was 3.7°C below normal.

Owing to moist South Westerly winds humidity was very high between 48 to 95% increasing the likelihood of more rain here.

Meanwhile, life in low lying areas of Surat and Valsad have been thrown out of gear owing to over five inches of rain in 24 hours and water logging.
Many vehicles including cars and bus parked in low lying areas partially submerged in Adajan area of the city. Water also entered some commercial complexes and residential colonies. The roof of an old house also caved in there, however no injury was reported in the incident.

Incidents of tree falling were also reported in some areas. A farmer was washed away in heavy rain yesterday in Amreli while the body of a nine year old lioness was recovered from river Hiran yesterday, which was suspected to have been washed away by the strong currents of the river during ongoing rains in the area.

The met has issued warning of heavy to very heavy rains at isolated places over Gujarat region , Saurashtra and in the adjoining areas of Diu, Daman, Dadra Nagar Haveli during the next 36 hours. Some of these areas saw such downpour today as well.

As per the precautionary disaster management plan the state government has geared itself up in the wake of the warning. One team of NDRF each at Rajkot and Surat were already present.

The rain has also brought smile on the faces of farmers in many areas who have started tilling their lands for preparations of sowing of crops. Several rivers and seasonal rivulets have seen flow of fresh water in several areas.

Owing to continuous rain and cloudy weather the temperatures across Gujarat has come down considerably and no place in the state saw temperature above 40 degree Celsius in the last 24 hours.

The maximum and minimum temperatures at various places across the state was as following –

PORBANDAR 35.4 28.6 AHMEDABAD 36.8 24.2 RAJKOT 36.1 27.1 DEESA 38.4 23.6 VERAVAL 30.1 28.7 GANDHI NAGAR 37.0 25.0 IDAR 38.2 SURENDRANAGAR 35.3 22.6 V.V. NAGAR 36.6 25.6 MAHUVA 31.8 22.7 VADODARA 35.8 24.7 BHUJ 38.9 26.3 SURAT 31.0 24.0 VALSAD 31.9 18.6 NALIYA 36.8 29.6 KANDLA PORT 37.1 25.5 AMRELI 34.8 26.8 0 KANDLA AIRPORT 36.7 25.3 BHAVNAGAR 33.4 24.2 DWARKA 33.9 28.8 OKHA 34.9 29.4.

DeshGujarat