Gujarat receives 110 pc of average annual rainfall

Heavy rains lashed parts of Kutch district of Gujarat on Saturday, weather officials said.

The state has received about 110 per cent of its annual average rainfall so far this season, much of it in August, said the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

The IMD also forecast “heavy to very heavy” rainfall at isolated places in the state till Tuesday morning.

Abdasa in Kutch district received 202 mm rainfall between 6 am and 4 pm on Saturday, with 118 mm rainfall in just two hours in the afternoon.

Gandevi in Navsari district in south Gujarat received 100 mm rainfall and Khambhalia in Devbhumi Dwarka received 94 mm rainfall in eight hours, the State Emergency Operation Centre (SEOC) said.

Water level in Sardar Sarovar Dam in Narmada district rose to 131.15 metres — its full reservoir level (FRL) is 138.68 metres — after touching 131.28 metres earlier with inflow of around 4 lakh cusec water due to heavy rains in catchment areas.

23 out of 30 floodgates of the dam were opened to release water in the Narmada river, officials said.

Villages in low-lying areas along the Narmada were put on high alert. Some people in Narmada and Bharuch districts were shifted to safer places as over four lakh cusec water was being released, and it could go up the dam was expected to receive between 5-8 lakh cusec water due to heavy rains upstream, officials said.

As per the latest data, till Saturday morning, Gujarat had received 912.56 mm rainfall or 109.81 percent of annual average.

More than half of it, 561.66 mm rain, was received in August alone.

Kutch district has so far received 223.4 per cent of its annual average rainfall of 412 mm, while Dangs district has received 55.87 per cent of its annual rainfall of 2,377 mm, the SEOC said. PTI