Monday, July 24. Much like us, the monsoon seems to be recharging in power every weekend, adding another state to its rainy radar. After Himachal, Punjab and Delhi, intense rains on Sunday targeted Gujarat in its scopes, leading to widespread flood-like situation in the western state.
While the monsoon is notorious for inducing severe flooding in the northern parts during the rainy season, a shear zone near the region also helped create conditions for rainfall to intensify over Gujarat last week.
Despite the reasonably early deployment of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) teams for rescue operations, the disaster had already taken its toll. IANS reports around five fatalities with three individuals from Rajkot and two from Junagadh being swept away by fast-moving flood waters. Two still remain missing.
Registering over 200 mm of rainfall in mere hours on Saturday, Junagadh was probably the worst-hit out of all the Gujarat districts. Rainwater overencumbered drains in the region, leading to severe waterlogging. Videos have captured several car pile-ups along with cattle being swept away in the city’s flash floods. NDTV reports that almost 3,000 people have been evacuated from Junagadh to safer areas so far.
In a bizarre incident, a lion was also spotted peacefully strolling Gujarat’s crowded highways and flyovers in the state. Motocyclists and cars were seen stopping to observe the animal.