Gujarat floods: Army called in for aid

The Army has been called in to assist in rescuing about 400 people who were marooned in Bavda village of Ahmedabad district in heavy rains, which lashed several parts of Gujarat on Monday night.

"One column of Army has already been deployed after flood water entered Bavda village in rural Ahmedabad," Ahmedabad District Collector D Thara said in Ahmedabad on Tuesday morning.

Both the army and the fire brigade are helping rescue about 400 persons who have been stranded in Bavda village, she said.

The collector said the state administration had to evacuate an estimated 4,000 people from the Dascroi and Dholka talukas of the district.

"The situation in Dascroi is very grim", she added.

Meanwhile, in an overnight operation, the district administration evacuated about 11,000 people from low-lying area of Ahmedabad city after 3 lakh cusecs water was released into the Sabarmati river.

A large part of the evacuation was carried out in the slums near the Mahatma Gandhi Ashram in Sabarmati locality after water from the river entered the low-lying shanties.

People from the slums in Ahmedabad city were moved to safer places with their belongings. Most of them in Sabarmati locality had occupied the footpath in front of these slums and spent the night in Ahmedabad.

"The water-level in Sabarmati is expected to ease as the day progresses," Thara said adding, a minimum amount of water was being released at present from Dharoi dam built upstream on the river.

Meanwhile, the situation in Sabarkantha district of North Gujarat which received heavy rains on Monday has eased a bit.

"Over 4,000 persons have been evacuated from Bhiloda, Bayad, Dhansura, Prantej and Talod talukas of the district till last evening," Sabarkanta collector M Thennarasan said.

"Three villages in Dhansura taluka were cut-off after the taluka received about 464 mm of rains in just 12 hours on Monday," he said adding, the villages have now become accessible.

He said the water inflow into the dams of the district has reduced and so the release of water into the rivers has been simultaneously being reduced.

In Kheda district, about 35 villages on banks of river Vatrak and Mahisagar are on high alert after the rivers swelled.

Though the water level in Mahisagar has reduced, Vatrak is still flowing bank to bank, district collector R R Varsani said adding, the administration has also evacuated a number of families from Matar and Kheralu talukas.

In Anand district about 1,400 persons from the Hambhat region have been evacuated after water levels in Sabarmati river rose, district administarion officials said.

According to reports from Vadodara, 72 villages located on the banks of Narmada river in neighbouring Vadodara and Bharuch districts of south Gujarat are still on alert.

The Sardar Sarovar dam built upstream on Narmada has been overflowing presently at 123.84 metres.