AHMEDABAD:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday did an aerial survey over the flood-affected regions in Gujarat and said, “The people of Gujarat are blessed with a strong spirit of resilience,” even as the floods caused massive damage to life and property leaving thousands of people displaced.
Incessant monsoon rains in the past few days have created floods in various parts of the country. Gujarat, Odisha, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Jharkhand and Assam so far has fallen to the fury of the south-west monsoons, which is still forecasted to go strong till late September.
Banaskantha and Patan districts in north Gujarat, where thousands of people are marooned due to incessant rains, received over 200 mm of rainfall in 24 hours. Dantiwada in Banaskantha was the worst-hit with a whopping 463 mm rainfall, followed by Palanpur (380 mm) and Vadgam (357 mm)
With thousands of people marooned in these areas, over 10,000 people were shifted to safer locations in Banaskantha district, nearly 9,790 to Patan and 2,800 to Ahmedabad.
During the aerial-survey, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced an ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh for the kin of the deceased and `50,000 for those injured in Gujarat.
Worse situation was recorded from the neighbouring state of Rajasthan where two people died because of the floods. The districts of Jalore, Pali and Sirohi were the worst off with rains washing away roads and leaving the people marooned.
Moreover, Mount Abu in Sirohi district recorded the highest ever rainfall in 24 hours with 733.6 mm. Previously, the 100-year record for a single day of rain in Mount Abu was 653mm in 1992.
With the situation not likely to see any respite, the met department has issued warning for heavy to very heavy rainfall in south-western and south-eastern, which covers Jodhpur and Udaipur division, during the next 24 hours.
Similar was the case for Jharkhand, where Jamshedpur recorded 324.8 mm rainfall during the last 48 hours which affected over 300 families.
The East-Singhbhum administration sounded an alert to people living in catchment areas since the water level in rivers Kharkhai and Swarnarekha was flowing over the danger level.
Following the announcement of the alert, more than 150 families were shifted to safer places city and over 50 families were shifted to relief camps.
Threat loomed over Odisha too as the water-level in Baitarani, Subarnarekha and Budhabalang rose steadily. Though flood water has not entered villages yet, Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Monday asked the administration to evacuate people from low-lying areas of Keonjhar, Bhadrak and Jajpur districts due to incessant rain in the region.
With the above states currently facing the wrath of the monsoons, situation in Assam continued to improve as the flood waters receded. However, the floods in Assam, in its fury, took the lives of 76 people, affected 26 districts in the state, damaged cropland over 2 lakh hectare and affecting over 16 lakh people.