<div align="justify">Until June-end, the Gujarat government was brooding over truant rain and preparing relief operations for the parched Saurashtra region. Come July and the tide has turned.<br /><br />As heavy rain swept the state, at least three people lost their lives in the last 24 hours, even as 214 were rescued and over 6,370 moved to safety.<br /><br />The death toll due to rain-related incidents has crossed 60 so far. Rivers and rivulets are in spate, marooning several villages.<br /><br />The situation was particularly grim in four districts of Saurashtra — Morbi, Amreli, Surendranagar and Rajkot. Of the displaced people, 3,245 are from Surendranagar and 2,620 from Morbi district.<br /><br />People who lost their lives on Saturday were from Lathi and Jasdan talukas in Amreli district.<br /><br />“Morbi received as much rain now as it did during the 1979 deluge, which had led to large-scale destruction. However, this time we took precautions and that saved the day,” said Chief Minister Vijay Rupani.<br /><br />By Saturday evening, the local administration issued a ‘Red Alert’ in Morbi and kept National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams on stand-by.<br /><br />All leaves granted to government officials were cancelled and the police were deployed on national highways.<br /><br />The residents of Morbi were asked to be prepared to shift as the water level in three sections of Machchhu dam was flowing above the danger mark.<br /><br />Other parts of the state were also not spared by the rain. While Ahmedabad and Vadodara received 2-4 inches rain in the last 24 hours, Kutch received up to 6 inches.<br /><br />Life in Ahmedabad was thrown out of gear with waterlogging, traffic jams and the pothole-ridden roads turning into death traps.<br /><br />Rescue missions<br />NDRF personnel, with rubber boats, ropes and other equipment, carried out 92 rescue operations through the day, even as the IAF, SDRF, police and fire brigade carried out similar rescue missions.<br /><br />The NDRF rescued a pregnant woman and 30 others from Ambardi village in Surendranagar district, while army personnel rescued a three-year-old girl child and 33 others across river Godara in Kuda village of Dhrangadhra district. <br /><br />In Morbi district, IAF personnel rescued 11 people in Maliya Miyana village and 18 others at Wankaner Rajsthali.<br /><br />In Limbdi district of Saurashtra region, nine members of a family were rescued from Untdi village by SDRF, fire brigade and IAF.<br /><br />The local administration in these districts even distributed food packets to the affected and put up temporary shelters.<br /><br />As many as 294 villages went without electricity on Saturday. More than 87 roads, including two national highways, 19 state highways and 69 panchayat roads had to be closed for traffic due to waterlogging. The national highway between Rajkot and Ahmedabad was closed for over six hours till late evening, leading to massive traffic jams extending to over five km. Several key bridges connecting villages to highways were washed away, forcing people to take long detours.<br /><br />Train services connecting commercial capital Ahmedabad with Saurashtra and port district of Kutch were badly hit as tracks were under water. Kutch district houses two of the biggest sea ports in the country – Kandla and Mundra.<br /><br />Gujarat, which received about 33% of the season’s rain till last week, suddenly recorded 51% rain by Saturday evening. Generally arid Kutch received 71.67% of its seasonal share.<br /><br />Among all the districts, Valsad received a maximum of 1,358 mm of rain.<br /><br />Of the 203 reservoirs in the state, 28 have been put under high alert, nine dams on alert and warnings were issued at 10 dams.<br /></div>
<div align="justify">Until June-end, the Gujarat government was brooding over truant rain and preparing relief operations for the parched Saurashtra region. Come July and the tide has turned.<br /><br />As heavy rain swept the state, at least three people lost their lives in the last 24 hours, even as 214 were rescued and over 6,370 moved to safety.<br /><br />The death toll due to rain-related incidents has crossed 60 so far. Rivers and rivulets are in spate, marooning several villages.<br /><br />The situation was particularly grim in four districts of Saurashtra — Morbi, Amreli, Surendranagar and Rajkot. Of the displaced people, 3,245 are from Surendranagar and 2,620 from Morbi district.<br /><br />People who lost their lives on Saturday were from Lathi and Jasdan talukas in Amreli district.<br /><br />“Morbi received as much rain now as it did during the 1979 deluge, which had led to large-scale destruction. However, this time we took precautions and that saved the day,” said Chief Minister Vijay Rupani.<br /><br />By Saturday evening, the local administration issued a ‘Red Alert’ in Morbi and kept National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams on stand-by.<br /><br />All leaves granted to government officials were cancelled and the police were deployed on national highways.<br /><br />The residents of Morbi were asked to be prepared to shift as the water level in three sections of Machchhu dam was flowing above the danger mark.<br /><br />Other parts of the state were also not spared by the rain. While Ahmedabad and Vadodara received 2-4 inches rain in the last 24 hours, Kutch received up to 6 inches.<br /><br />Life in Ahmedabad was thrown out of gear with waterlogging, traffic jams and the pothole-ridden roads turning into death traps.<br /><br />Rescue missions<br />NDRF personnel, with rubber boats, ropes and other equipment, carried out 92 rescue operations through the day, even as the IAF, SDRF, police and fire brigade carried out similar rescue missions.<br /><br />The NDRF rescued a pregnant woman and 30 others from Ambardi village in Surendranagar district, while army personnel rescued a three-year-old girl child and 33 others across river Godara in Kuda village of Dhrangadhra district. <br /><br />In Morbi district, IAF personnel rescued 11 people in Maliya Miyana village and 18 others at Wankaner Rajsthali.<br /><br />In Limbdi district of Saurashtra region, nine members of a family were rescued from Untdi village by SDRF, fire brigade and IAF.<br /><br />The local administration in these districts even distributed food packets to the affected and put up temporary shelters.<br /><br />As many as 294 villages went without electricity on Saturday. More than 87 roads, including two national highways, 19 state highways and 69 panchayat roads had to be closed for traffic due to waterlogging. The national highway between Rajkot and Ahmedabad was closed for over six hours till late evening, leading to massive traffic jams extending to over five km. Several key bridges connecting villages to highways were washed away, forcing people to take long detours.<br /><br />Train services connecting commercial capital Ahmedabad with Saurashtra and port district of Kutch were badly hit as tracks were under water. Kutch district houses two of the biggest sea ports in the country – Kandla and Mundra.<br /><br />Gujarat, which received about 33% of the season’s rain till last week, suddenly recorded 51% rain by Saturday evening. Generally arid Kutch received 71.67% of its seasonal share.<br /><br />Among all the districts, Valsad received a maximum of 1,358 mm of rain.<br /><br />Of the 203 reservoirs in the state, 28 have been put under high alert, nine dams on alert and warnings were issued at 10 dams.<br /></div>
