While nearly 250 houses were under water, traffic on all major roads came to near standstill and the civic body had to close down all the under passes from early in the morning.
A sleepy Amdavad awoke to a rude jolt on Sunday morning with most areas of the city getting submerged in knee-deep and higher water levels and loss of lives and property from the huge downpour people of around 10 inch on an average in majority areas.
While nearly 250 houses were under water, traffic on all major roads came to near standstill and the civic body had to close down all the under passes from early in the morning.
After six inches rainfall that drenched the city for about one and half hours on Sunday, Memnagar witnessed around 14 inch rain within two hours. However, Ranip got the highest of 15 inch rainfall. "Out of total 466 square kilometer area of Ahmedabad city, around 300 square kilometer area got around 10 inch rain fall on an average," said IP Gautam, municipal commissioner of Ahmedabad.
Heavy downpour in Ranip created a flood-like situation. However, the civic body controlled the situation with immediate rescue operations. The morning scene was grim enough with people needing evacuation from areas like Bakara Mandi area in Ranip.
However, the civic body officials removed two walls coming in the natural path of the water, which helped rain water draining off quickly.
Many residential societies in Ranip, Nirnaynagar, Ghatlodia, Chandlodia, Sabarmati, Chandkheda, Vejalpur, Gomtipur, Isanpur, Ghodasar, Vatva and other areas had rain water in their houses. In Gomtipur, failure of drainage pumping station near Shital Talkies was the root cause for floods in the area. The control room set up by the civic body received as many as 53 complaints of water logging from various areas of the city, which is highest in this season. The fire and emergency services had to send four boats to Ranip for rescue operation.
"There was only little rain in the city till 1.30 am. However, rainfall with higher intensity particularly in Ranip, Memnagar and Usmanpura resulted in problem," said Gautam. He also said that the civic body did not want to leave any stone unturned, so people will not have to suffer.
Because of heavy rainfall, Kali, Asarwa, Naroda and Odhav lakes were over flowing. Moreover, the Kharikat canal also got overflooded at lower levels in Vatva as a result of which Trikampura turned into an island. "There was a possibility of breakdown in Kharikat Canal which was thankfully averted with immediate action by the civic body," said AMC officials. In Rajivnagar area in Bapunagar rain water entered into around 70 houses and food packets were distributed in the area.
The AMC officials were asked to remain in a standby mode to and municipal commissioner IP Gautam was directly controlling the situation. He said that though monsoon action plan was in preparation, the incessant rain has necessitated the civic body to act considering this situation in a disaster management plan, he said.
Moreover, the AMC also sought help of National Disaster Rescue Force (NDRF) and State Reserve Police Force (SRPF) for emergency. One team of NDRF has been deployed in Ranip, while one has been kept as standby.
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