Ahmedabad

At least ten people are feared killed in heavy rain related incidents with five confirmed deaths in Banaskantha district of Gujarat alone in last 24 hours while the total toll all over the state was Eight so far excluding the five missing, official sources said today.

Six people are also reported to be injured.

Life has been thrown out of gear in the three most affected districts from where these deaths have been reported. Train and road traffic has also been badly affected owing to the incessant rains and falling trees over highways. Several trains have been diverted and scenes of long jams on the highways were also created Adding to the woes of the people power supply in several areas has been disrupted. Over 2500 people have moved to safer places amid the continuing downpour and forecast of it continuing for at least one more day.

District Collector of Banaskantha, which has seen over 21 inches of rain at some places, Mr. Dilip Rana said that five deaths have been confirmed while five others were missing. ‘The deaths and missing people are results of various rain and flood related incidents including the swaying away and drowning of vehicles in Tharad and some other areas. Three teams of the NDRF have arrived in the district of which two are deployed in Lakhdi area where maximum downpour of over 21 inches have been reported so far. One of the team was in Suigam another rain ravaged place in the district,’ he said.

We have rescued hundreds of people from the low lying areas and the operation is on in inundated villages so far, the collector said adding that 3 more teams of the NDRF were on its way to Banaskantha.

Two deaths were reported from Kutch district where amid incessant rain a wall in Ramnagar collapsed killing two children on the spot. Three others were injured in the accident.

One person was also killed in a similar incident in Patan town when a wall collapsed over a motorcycle near a temple. The other rider was injured.

Meanwhile schools and aanganwadis of the three most rain affected districts Banaskantha, Patan, the home district of chief minister Anandiben Patel, and Kutch, the district notorious for scanty rain but was witnessing an unusually heavy downpour this time around, has been closed by administrative order.

In the wake of the Met department warning of heavy to very heavy downpour during the next 24 hours as well, the state government has pulled up socks to further intensify the rescue operations. Chief Minister called a review meeting and instructed the authorities to take appropriate steps in the affected areas.

The chief secretary, who conducted a video conferencing with the district heads this morning, was constantly in touch with the collectors.

Several dams including Narmada were virtually full while many of the rivers including seasonal rivulets were overflowing, in the Northern part of the state. A total of 246 talukas of all the 33 districts of experienced rainfall in the last 24 hours which has taken the total rain percentage in the state across half way mark to around 52 percent so far. Ahmedabad and capital city Gandhinagar have also witnessed heavy rains. Other districts of North Gujarat like Sabarkantha and Mehasana have also experienced rain in the excess of 6 inches so far. Hundreds of trees had also fallen all over the state and reports of over a hundred cattle dying in various parts have also emerged.

The current spell of monsoon rain seems to be a déjà vu of the heavy downpour in Amreli and adjoining areas of Saurashtra last month in which over 70 people, 10 lions and hundreds of other animals were killed.

– DeshGujarat