Gandhinagar: India Meteorological Department (IMD) predicted heavy to very heavy rains across Gujarat in the next couple of days as rains pounded the state several parts of south Gujarat, including Surat, Navsari and Valsad, on Tuesday.
South Gujarat already recorded 114% of seasonal rainfall till Tuesday morning.
Gujarat’s 22 out of 33 districts have so far received cent per cent of their average seasonal rainfall.
According to State Emergency Operation Centre (SEOC), Gandhinagar, Gandevi in Navsari received 114 mm rainfall from 6 am to 12 noon, followed by Choryasi in Surat (94 mm), Sutrapada in Gir Somnath (93 mm), Jalalpor in Navsari (84 mm) and Navsari (82 mm).
Ahmedabad, the state’s financial capital, received nearly two inches of rainfall between 8 am and 12 noon on Tuesday.
The State Government issued an alert for villages along the banks of the Narmada River after water level in the Sardar Sarovar Dam crossed 136 metres, the highest since its height was raised to 138 metres in 2017, due to heavy rains in the neighbouring catchment areas of Madhya Pradesh.
With the rise in the water level, which now stands at 136.21 metres, the authorities have opened 23 of total 30 gates of the mega-dam.
The Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Limited’s (SSNNL)’s control room informed that the dam was getting 6.47 lakh cusecs (cubic foot per second) of water of which a dominant 6.16 lakh cusec was being released into the downstream river.
The flood warning, issued by the SSNNL on Sunday night, asked residents of villages along the banks of the river in Narmada, Vadodara and Bharuch districts, as well as the authorities, to be alert as inflow of water into the river may cause it to breach in its banks.
Gujarat has so far received 109.99 per cent of its annual average rainfall, with 22 of the total 33 districts receiving 100 per cent rainfall.
