There was severe waterlogging in many areas, while AMC seeked forces for rescue operations. Transport services were also badly hit.
Torrential rains on Saturday night and early Sunday morning severely paralysed normal life in Ahmedabad, with many areas getting submerged in water, forcing the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation to seek two platoons of the State Reserve Police Force (SRPF) and one platoon of the National Disaster Rescue Force (NDRF) for rescue operations in the city.
Six people died in the city in three separate incidents of either drowning or house collapse.
Flight services from the city were also adversely affected. Ahmedabad-Dubai flight of the Emirates airlines was cancelled, while other domestic flights were delayed. Because of the cancellation of Emirates flight, around 215 passengers had to suffer. Passengers were seen wading into knee-deep water at the airport, carrying the baggage on their heads.
On the other hand, seven trains from Ahmedabad were cancelled. These were Ahmedabad-Okha, Ahmedabad-Viramgam, Ahmedabad-Veraval, Ahmedabad-Valsad, Jamnagar-Surat, Ahmedabad-Mehsana and Ahmedabad-Gandhinagar.
Road traffic on the Ahmedabad-Mehsana highway was also affected because of heavy rain and waterlogging. Only heavy-duty vehicles could ply on the road, said Pratish Shah, a commuter.
Following the downpour after two day’s rain break, severe waterlogging took place in various areas of the city, including Ranip, Ambawadi, Naroda, Gomatipur, Chandkheda, Sabarmati and other low-lying areas in new west zone, west zone and east zone of the city, officials said.
Various areas of the city received 10 inch rainfall or more, with Ranip getting the highest rain of 15 inches. As a result, all underpasses had to be closed. AMC officials said that four to five inch of more rain could create havoc in the city.
Two persons met a watery grave under two underbridges. Jagdish Parmar, 25, drowned at Nirnaynagar Underbridge, while one Anil Sindhi, 17, drowned at Akhbarnagar Underbridge. Moreover, four people died and one person sustained serious injuries when a temple dome fell on a house in Dhudheshwar area of the city. As water level started rising at an alarming rate, five gates of Vasna Barrage were opened and around 15,000 cusec water was released on Sunday morning, said AMC officials.
Sanand, a satellite town of Ahmedabad, turned into an island because of nearly 10 inch rainfall on Sunday. However, the situation became stable with draining off of rainwater by evening, said Sudhir Patel, the mamlatdar of Sanand.
India Meteorological Department has predicted moderate to heavy rains at a few places in Gujarat in the next 24 hours. Five cases of lightning occurred at various places in the state, including Ahmedabad.
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