Parts of coastal Saurashtra have been battered by heavy rains leading to floods in several districts amidst overflowing dams and rivers.
The rains caused water logging in Khambhalia, Rajkot, Kalavad, Dhoraji and parts of Junagadh and Porbandar districts in Saurashtra and Valsad and Navsari in south Gujarat. The authorities have alerted low-lying areas and shifted more than 25,000 people to safer locations.
According to the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), the monsoon has intensified and remains ‘vigorous’ and heavy to very heavy rainfall is likely in parts of Saurashtra and north and south Gujarat in the next three days.
Around a dozen large dams in Jamnagar, Dwarka, Junagadh and Rajkot districts have overflown in the season’s first spell of the monsoon.
Roads and agricultural fields are flooded in many districts and some monsoon rivers in spate.
A nearly 30-year-old bridge over a river in Junagadh district caved in.
In anticipation of heavy rains, NDRF teams have been deployed at several places for rescue efforts.
So far, around two dozen persons have died in rain-related incidents like lightening and floods.