Japan K Pathak

More articles of this series – Vishwamitri has long history of flooding Vadodara; Campbell in 1883 wrote that it ‘frequently overflows in monsoons’

Ajwa Dam was built based on annual average 39 inches rain in Vadodara; it’s now 42.24 inches and rising

More Vishwamitri floods in Vadodara in 20th & 21st centuries; highest rain of June on record in 2005 caused first flood of century

2014 was a lackluster monsoon for Vadodara, but then came a surprise as September brought flood

2019: When Unprecedented Extremely Heavy Rains and Flooding Vishwamitri Stalled the City of Vadodara for 5 Days

Vishwamitri river flood in Vadodara in August 2024; What caused it, how it started, progressed and ended

Near the railway station, a fierce current swept away houses, and the inmates climbed into trees. Many dropped from exhaustion after several days and were carried away by the water. The bodies of humans and animals were mixed in inextricable confusion. In some parts of the city, the utmost misery existed, with many thousands being homeless. This was the narration by the Bombay correspondent of the Daily Mail newspaper, quoting a European who had arrived in Bombay from flood-hit Baroda in 1927. The same European visitor estimated the deaths at close to 500, although adding that the exact total would never be known.

The 1927 flood of Vadodara was international news, covered by many newspapers across the world. Many global newspapers reported that the death toll was over 1,000 in this tragedy. Several newspapers reported that the city of Vadodara was surrounded by 10 ft of deep water. Some newspapers also presented rumors as fact and published that the flood was due to the breaking of Ajwa Lake. Damage to the Bombay-Baroda railroad was estimated at $1,000,000, according to a newspaper report quoting a railway official. The city of Vadodara remained underwater for several days. Communications between Bombay and Baroda were cut off. The Punjab mail train, on the route from Bombay, had been marooned at Itola for a few days. A relief train was sent to rescue passengers using trolley lines and boats. There were reports of other trains halted, bridges demolished, livestock drowned, and buildings inundated.

The August 1 report of the London-based Daily Mail, quoting a European visitor, stated: Volunteer parties in the city of Baroda did heroic rescue work in boats, saving among others the British resident (the British government representative) in the state of Baroda, Lieutenant Colonel Richard Burke, and a party of 50, who were marooned on the top floor of the British residency for three days without food. All Europeans in Baroda were saved. The situation within the city was terrible. An Indian wrestling champion, who was a strong swimmer, alone rescued 60 people from trees and rooftops. Ajwa Lake overflowed, the first rush of water dividing the city into three islands.

Stanley Rice, in his book Life of Sayaji Rao III (1931), however, claimed that the reports of newspapers were exaggerated and that the actual toll was 107 persons, along with 3,000 livestock and over 93,000 houses.

Stanley, presenting his version of events, writes: “The wildest rumors were afloat and were duly reported to the newspapers as authentic facts. As all communication was cut off, people drew upon their imagination, and every man’s improbable tale was, in the excitement that prevailed, accepted at its face value. Men said that the Sayaji Sarovar, the great reservoir which supplies Baroda, had burst and overwhelmed the city with the loss of a thousand lives; that two hundred of the Baroda College boys had either been drowned or had died of starvation; that thousands of cattle had perished, and hundreds of men had been buried under the fallen houses.”

“All this proved happily to be the grossest exaggeration, but if the truth was not so bad as that, it was nevertheless bad enough. In Baroda City, 40 people lost their lives, and over 4,500 houses were either destroyed or damaged. In a small village outside the city, containing but 46 inhabitants, 32 were drowned. The ascertained total loss throughout the affected districts was 107, inclusive of Baroda City. The number of livestock of all descriptions thus lost is returned at about 3,000. No fewer than 93,220 houses either collapsed or were damaged. The total loss to the people, whose inability to resist a single season of drought is notorious, was estimated at close to Rs. 150 lakhs, or about a million sterling, and this did not include the loss to agriculture, not only by the submersion of the standing crops but by the layer of sand which the onrush of the flood had spread over the fields.”

Stanley informs that the Maharaja of Baroda had left for a foreign visit with the Maharani in April. The flood happened in late July when the Maharaja was in Geneva after staying in London and Paris. The Maharaja, who had initially only read the newspaper reports, telegraphed his sympathy coupled with a donation towards relief and wise orders, which practically gave the Government a free hand. The new Dewan had not been long in office and had not yet mastered the details of Baroda administration before he was called upon to face a very ugly situation.

Stanley, while narrating the events of the 1927 flood in Baroda, mentions generally floods in mid-July. In this context, he also mentions there was always a feeling of tense expectancy in the air as the time for the coming of rain draws near(due to problems including floods the rains might carry). He also mentions the rapid rise in the rivers and streams, which is another characteristic of Vishwamitri during floods due to its deep but very narrow bed. He also mentions that the artificial drains were, by long neglected and out of repair and therefore ‘proved altogether inadequate to carry off the water, so that it was there that the loss to house property was most considerable.’ It shows the neglect of drains has been a scenario for some time, probably because it is believed to be unuseful for most of the year (and sometimes several years).

Stanley narrates the 1927 flood events in these words:

“There is always a feeling of tense expectancy in the air as the time for the coming of the rain draws near. In the year 1927, however, nothing had occurred to suggest anxiety; in Baroda as well as in the south and west things were normal, while in the north, though the rain was below the average, the season was yet young; there was plenty of time to make up lost ground. About the 14th of July, heavy rain fell as usual throughout the State, and the small river Vishwamitri, which runs through Baroda city in a winding course with a deep but very narrow bed, was in flood as it generally is at that time.”

“On the 24th of July, it began to rain in earnest, and in four days—from the 24th to the 28th—the registered fall in Baroda city was 39 inches, while a maximum of 55 inches was reached in an adjoining district. In that particular district of Vaghodia, the total for the season, which was normally 35 inches, was returned at the unprecedented figure of 113.”

“The rivers and streams rose rapidly. The railways were damaged, and traffic was utterly dislocated. But in the afternoon of the 28th of July, the water, which up to that time had not reached the level of the bridge over the Vishwamitri connecting the city with the railway station, rose with alarming swiftness.”

“Within a few hours, a roaring torrent was rushing nine feet deep across the road. Travelers along the road, utterly taken by surprise, were marooned in trees or on the roofs of houses, and it is said that a woman with her baby was thus cut off in a tree outside the railway station for forty-eight hours before help could reach her. All communication with the British Camp and the Residency was cut off, and the Resident himself was imprisoned in the upper story of his house.”

“Things were little better elsewhere. The Dhadhar, usually a small and insignificant stream, overflowed its banks and smote down whole villages. Large areas of young crops were submerged and drowned beyond hope of recovery; villages were isolated, and in the northwest, the artificial drains, which had by long neglect fallen out of repair, proved altogether inadequate to carry off the water, so that it was there that the loss to house property was most considerable.”

“One of the most pathetic results of the flood, though economically of minor importance, was the death by drowning of practically the whole collection of wild animals in the Public Park. These unfortunates were trapped in their cages where nobody could reach them, even if they had dared to let loose lions and tigers upon a panic-stricken people. Hardly one escaped.”

As per the India Meteorological Department(IMD) data, in 1927, the rainfall in June was 197.6 mm in Vadodara district. But in July it was 1067.3 which was highest ever in July in Vadodara in available records of  124 years. In August the rainfall was 141.3 mm followed by 103.9 in September and 27.2 mm in October. So it was only a certain period in the month of July which brought extremely heavy rainfall and flood. Interestingly, the system that caused such an extreme rainfall also affected the districts of Ahmedabad, Kheda, Anand, Surendranagar, Dahod mainly. These all districts also received extremely heavy and unprecedented rainfall. But when it comes to Vadodara, the most important is Panchmahal. Because rainfall in Halol in Panchmahal contributes mainly to flood in Vadodara. In 1927 Panchmahal witnessed whopping and never-after 2152.6 mm rainfall in total. In July it was 1478.5 mm. Just imagine, July 1927’s 1,067.3 mm rainfall in Vadodara and same period’s 1,478.5 mm rainfall in Panchmahal. The load of water on the shoulder of narrow Vishwamitri can be easily understood with these rainfall figures.

The Dewan, V. T. Krishnama Chari, led the distribution of relief. A liberal offer of loans on the easiest terms and with the simplest procedure was introduced. Free materials for house-building were granted, and special loans were disbursed for the same purpose. The lowest classes were offered extraordinary help. Measures were taken to clear up the city and villages to prevent the further disaster of an epidemic.

The State itself organized relief funds, one of which, that for Baroda City, was administered by Prince Dhairyashil Rao, the sole surviving son of the Maharaja, and the other for the districts by the Dewan. Help arrived in the form of food and clothing, as well as in bands of volunteers from British districts beyond the Raj.

Deeds of heroism during the flood were, in due course, suitably rewarded. We find a newspaper report from that year stating that Anand Vagar, a native convict, rescued eight persons from death in a flood at Baroda and was rewarded with freedom(from prison).

Oral history-based recent news reports claim that postal letters were delivered to people using over 100 elephants from the postal department during the flood. The relief teams also rode on the elephants to distribute food, water, and medicines to the people in flooded areas. The State paid Rs. 15 as compensation to each victim who lost a home and valuables. The State had waived off taxes to offer relief to flood-hit citizens.

There’s another oral history account that the flood water in 1927 reached upto the legs of the horse of Kala Ghoda statue in the city and that’s why such a size of flood is in Gujarati language called Ghoda Pur (Horse-Flood). However more popular use of the term Ghoda Pur is in reference to flood in which waters rush ahead in the style and speed of a running horse.

In the next few episodes of this series we would discuss some more recent floods in Vadodara, why did they happen, what should the people of Vadodara can do, and what should the city managers/government can do.  DeshGujarat

The author can be reached at japanpathak @ gmail . com