Japan K Pathak

The people of Vadodara, including those who live there and who manage the city, need to constantly realize that the city is geographically and historically a flood-prone pocket and vulnurable during mid-July to mid-September period when there’s extremely heavy rainfall in a short period. Floods in Vadodara due to overflowing of Vishwamitri river find mentions in journals during the pre-independence British era, Gaekwad rule, post-independence Mumbai state period, and post 1960 Congress and BJP governments in power in separate Gujarat State. Records suggest that river Vishwamitri has a tendency to overflow in the city of Vadodara when there’s extremely heavy rainfall in a short duration. I will try to cover available details of some of the Vishwamitri floods in Vadodara in this searies of articles.

આ જ લેખ ગુજરાતીમાં વાંચો: વડોદરામાં વિશ્વામિત્રીના પૂરનો લાંબો ઇતિહાસ છે ; 19મી સદીમાં કેમ્પબેલે લખ્યું હતું ચોમાસામાં આ નદી અવારનવાર છલકાય છે

Fury of Vishwamitri compelled Ankottaka(present day Akota), which was originally located on its west bank, to relocate itself as Vadapadraka on the east, away from the river around 600 A.D. Murtis excavated from Akota which belong to Ankottaka era are exhibitted in the Vadodara museum.

If we come to relatively recent examples, one of the early records of Vishwamitri’s flood in Vadodara can be found from the later part of the 19th century.

[More articles in this series: Ajwa Dam was built based on annual average 39 inches rain in Vadodara; it’s now 42.24 inches and rising

 1927 flood of Vishwamitri in Vadodara attracted global attention amid reports of Ajwa dam burst and 1000 deaths

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

A full account of the July 1877 Vadodara flood has been given by Rája Sir T. Mádhavráv in his Administration Report for 1877-78. James Macnabb Campbell, the author of Bombay Presidency Gazetteer(1883) calls it “the extraordinary flood”.

Campbell writes – ‘It began on the 22nd of July 1877, when the river rose to an unprecedented height. At 9 P.M. On the 27th of July the height of the water was 28.4 ft, or 3 feet below the roadway of the bridge crossing the Vishvámitri on the road leading to the camp; at 5 A.M. On the 28th the water rose to 32 feet, or 3 inches above the roadway; and at 2-20P.M. on the 29th the flood reached its highest point, namely 39.4 feet, or about a foot above the parapet wall. The water then rapidly subsided, and it fell below the roadway of the bridge on the 31st. Thus for 4 days the communication between the city on the one side, and the camp and the railway station on the other, was entirely stopped. Some lives were lost and many houses were destroyed.‘

In fact flooding of Vishwamitri appears not unusual. In the Administration Report for 1877-78, p. 97-98, the Minister, Raja Sir T. Madhav ráv is mentioned to have ‘contemplated throwing another large bridge over the Vishvámitri, which would be lifted above the level of the highest flood yet known‘. It shows, the phenomena of floods was very much an issue of concern for Vadodara city those years.

When writing about the river Vishwamitri, Campbell time and again introduces it in the context of its nature to overflow in monsoons.

He writes – ‘the Vishwamitri river describes a most tortuous course ; it has cut deep below the surface of the soil, so that just south of the capital its banks are 35 ft high ; during the summer months, it is but a trickling stream, and during the monsoons, it frequently overflows its banks and spreads wide over the level country on either side. The height above mean sea level at Vishweshwar(close to the spot from where Vishwamitri originates) is 130 ft, and at the Baroda bridge 111.33 ft.‘

Campbell also explains how various measures were executed at a cost of thousands of Rupees(huge sum that time) to get rid of overflows of Vishwamitri – ‘The Vishvamitri has been described as a river which runs dry in the summer months and is liable to overflow its banks during the rains. Means had been taken both to store its waters and to get rid of them. A few yards below the bridge there was a solid timber dam with gates, which retained a fine store of water during a large portion of the year. It was carried away bodily by the pressure of the water at the end of the year 1881. To prevent the water of the river from overflowing and entering parts of the city, certain dams, bands have been provided with regulators at a cost of Rs. 14,200. At the same time to drain off the water during heavy rainfalls, a long open cutting has been made, and other works executed at a cost of about Rs. 16,400.‘

Such a system of barrage type mechanism and ‘a long open cutting’ what is called ‘kaans’ in local Gujarati (storm water drain) in no era can be irrelevant. While ‘kaans’ have reportedly suffered encroachment, the bund-barrage type regulator mechanism is no more there.

Campbell in a chapter about the tanks of Baroda mentions the town (Baroda) lies very low except where it has been raised above the surrounding level by long years of building. He mentions the city as a ‘low level country‘ geographically. The chapter also mentions the drainage works carried out by Sir T Madhavrav that gave the waters (of overflowing Vishwamitri river) a way to escape.

‘Khanderáv by carrying on this work not only provided soldiers with a free space to exercise in, but thrust back from the city the low level country. It has already been stated that the port boundary of the city is the Pahádí Nadi, and that the west boundary is the Vishvámitri which, when it overflowed, used to flood the Bábáji Pura till the recent drainage works carried out by Sir T. Mádhavráv gave the waters a way to escape. It remains to tell how the Pahádí Nadi to the north is joined by a nála, full all the rains, which skirts the parade ground and touches first the Váda Vádi tank and the Shirsha tank and then the Marda tank, and finally the Ajab and the Ráje tank near the gate fitly called the WaterGate. In truth the whole of the country to the east of Baroda is much under water during the monsoon and is wholly taken up by rice fields, so that, as a matter of fact, the town lies very low except where it has been raised above the surrounding level by long years of building. With the exception of the Mahmud tank in the south-east corner of the capital there is but one other tank worthy of special notice. Imme- diately in front of the Leheripura or West Gate is the great Sur Ságar tank, which is completely surrounded by buildings and furnishes the main portion of the town with water for all but drinking pur- poses. It has been connected with the Shirsha tank by pipes laid down by His Highness Malhárráv and perfected under the present administration.‘

It’s worth noting that Sayaji Sarowar, popularly known as Ajwa dam was not constructed in those years when Campbell made these notes.

Construction of Ajwa dam didn’t solve the issue of overflowing of Vishwamitri river. In fact, it was built solely as a source of water for the city of Vadodara. The next article of this series will throw more light on it.

Next article of this series: Ajwa Dam was built based on annual average 39 inches rain in Vadodara; it’s now 42.4 inches

Author can be reached at japanpathak @ gmail . com