The Hindu : National : More heavy rain forecast for Gujarat

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Tuesday, Jul 10, 2007
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More heavy rain forecast for Gujarat

Manas Dasgupta

Narmada, Mahi and Sabarmati in spate; over 100 villages placed on high alert

— PHOTO: AP

BROKEN LINK: A bridge damaged in floods near Gudhikhal village of Balasore district in Orissa on Monday.

GANDHINAGAR: Gujarat is likely to receive yet another round of heavy rains even as most of the major rivers in the north and the central regions are in spate due to heavy rainfall in the neighbouring States.

More than 100 villages in the Broach, Vadodara and Ahmedabad districts have been placed on high alert while evacuation of people in the low-lying areas has been initiated in Anand district as the Narmada, Mahi and Sabarmati have started overflowing or are threatening to inundate their banks.

The State administrative machinery has been geared up as the weather bureau forecast “extremely heavy” rainfall in north and central Gujarat and heavy to very heavy rainfall in the Kutch-Saurashtra region in the next 48 hours.

The weather bureau said the deep depression over Guna in Madhya Pradesh, which was causing heavy rainfall in M.P. and parts of Rajasthan and north Gujarat during the last two days, was moving in a north-westerly direction and would cause heavy rainfall in almost all of Gujarat over the next couple of days.

While the Sardar Sarovar on the Narmada again started overflowing above the dam level of 122 metres, both Mahi and Sabarmati were flowing bank to bank due to heavy discharge of water from the Kadana and Dharoi dams following continuous heavy rainfall in M.P. and Rajasthan. An official spokesman on Monday said people living downstream from the major dams had been alerted to remain prepared for evacuation if the discharge from the dams increased later on Monday night or by Tuesday morning if rains continued in the upper catchment areas in the neighbouring states.

District administrations in the Kutch-Saurashtra regions are also on alert, most parts of which received only moderate rainfall on Monday. The fishermen in the Saurashtra coastal villages have been advised against venturing into the sea in view of the warning.

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