Vadodara reels under flood-like situation after heavy rains
Rainwater flooded parts of Odisha and Rajasthan after a heavy downpour in the two states, while Gujarat's rain-hit Vadodara limped back to normalcy as the swollen Vishwamitri river's ferocity started waning on Friday.
Over 5,700 people were moved out of the central Gujarat city and neighbouring areas due to flooding from the river which often dries up in summer, leaving only a stream of water behind.
The state officials said six people have died in rain-related incidents in the city, the third-largest in the state after Ahmedabad and Surat. Many areas are still submerged after a burst of nearly 500mm of rainfall in 24 hours.
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE DAY
08:35 pm: The weather department has predicted intense rainfall in Mumbai on Saturday and Sunday due to a low-pressure area over the Bay of Bengal. Warnings for inclement weather were issued for areas along the west coast, a senior IMD official said in Mumbai.
08:30 pm: IN VADODARA, floodwater brought with them seven mid-sized crocodiles to residential areas of the city but the reptiles were captured by forest department officials over two days. Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani said in a tweet that Prime Minister Narendra Modi discussed the flood situation in the state with him on telephone and assured Central help.
08:25 pm: IN ODISHA, rainwater submerged low-lying areas and snapped road connectivity in Malkangiri district. Because of a flood-like situation, the district administration has ordered schools to remain shut for two days. Malkangiri has received an average of 115.86 mm rains in past 24 hours, an official said in Bhubaneswar.
Apart from Malkangiri, districts like Nabarangpur, Rayagada and Koraput were also lashed by heavy rainfall.
08:20 pm: IN HIMACHAL PRADESH, the government asked all district-level administrators to be on high alert for heavy rainfall in parts of the state till August 8. It also issued a the least dangerous "yellow" warning for heavy downpour for Sunday and Monday.
Light-to-heavy rains have been lashing parts of the state. Una district has received the highest 230.2mm rainfall since Thursday evening, the Met office said in Shimla.
05:45 pm: Agra too is water-logged
05:00 pm: Vadodara is water-logged again
04:15 pm: Ten districts of Rajasthan record 'excess' rainfall
03:09 pm: Mumbai: Waterlogging in Chunabhatti area following heavy rainfall.
02:13 pm: Intense spells of rain with gusty winds reaching 30-40 kmph likely to occur in the districts of Palghar, Thane, Raigad and Mumbai during next 4 hours
12:36 pm: Gujarat: Five National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams conducting rescue operations in the flood-affected areas of Vadodara city
11:45 am: Gujarat: A crocodile was rescued in Vadodara from floodwaters near Ganesh Nagar, yesterday
Crocodile rescued in Gujarat
11:06 am: After two days of moderate showers, the met department on Friday forecast "intense heavy rainfall" in Mumbai on late Saturday and Sunday. KS Hosalikar, Deputy Director General of Meteorology, India Met Department, Mumbai, tweeted, "With the development of low pressure area over Bay, this Saturday night and Sunday."
11:01 am: Water-logging at a residential area in Ajita Nagar, Vadodara after rainfall in the region
10:45 am: NDRF rescues people from Rhythm Heart Institute in Vadodara amid heavy waterlogging in the area
09:37 am: The dead body of a man was found from inside his car that had drowned in a river in Pune. One person is still missing in the incident, rescue operations are currently underway by the NDRF
Car falls from bridge, drowns in Pune river
09:33 am: National Disaster Response Force(NDRF) personnel rescue people from Rhythm Heart Institute in Vadodara following flooding in the area
09:00 am: People queue up to buy milk in flood hit Vadodara
Five persons were killed and over 5,700 were evacuated from Vadodara city and surrounding areas in Central Gujarat which was battered by nearly 500 mm of rains in 24 hours till Thursday morning. While roads were unusable due to water-logging and several trains were cancelled, operations at the Vadodara airport resumed late Thursday evening.
Most parts of the city remained inundated till Thursday night in spite of intensity of rain decreasing, as waters of the Vishwamitri river started entering the city as it breached its banks.
Several trains passing through the city were cancelled and roads in and around the city were submerged even late Thursday evening.
Water from the overflowing Vishwamitri entered several localities in the city, bringing with it a few crocodiles too.
Four persons were killed in Bajwa area late Wednesday night after a wall collapsed. The body of an unknown man was recovered from Khodiyarnagar area Thursday, Vadodara district collector Shalini Agarwal said.
"The administration has shifted more than 4,500 people to safer places and evacuated 1200 persons who were stranded in houses due to water-logging," she said.
The city received a staggering 499 mm of rainfall in 24 hours ending 8 am on Thursday, official data showed.
Of this, 286 mm of rain fell in just four hours, between 4 pm to 8 pm on Wednesday.
Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani held a meeting in state capital Gandhinagar to take stock of the situation. Water from the Vishwamitri entered low-lying areas after Ajwa dam overflowed due to a heavy downpour upstream, he said.
Teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), State Disaster Response Force, two columns of Army and fire brigade have been pressed into service to help stranded people, Rupani said.
"We have also decided to send five more NDRF teams to Vadodara," he said.
Airport operations which were halted since Wednesday started late Thursday evening, officials said. Videos of police and NDRF personnel rescuing people
flooded social media. One of them showed a policeman carrying a one-and-half-year-old girl in plastic tub while wading through five feet-deep water.
Sub-inspector Govind Chavda rescued the baby girl from Devipura locality near Vishwamitri railway station in the wee hours of Thursday.
As the Vishwamitri is home to several crocodiles, some of them entered the city with floodwaters. Videos of crocodiles near housing societies were uploaded on social media.
State Meteorological Department's director Jayanta Sarkar said the city received a record rainfall on Wednesday.
Gujarat is likely to receive heavy rains in the next three days, he added.
Also Read | Dramatic video shows a cop rescuing a 45-day-old baby in Vadodara flooding
Also Read | Crocodiles hit the streets in Vadodara, almost eat up dog
Video: Crocodiles swim to residential areas in Vadodara
