Rivulet floods bring Surat city to a grinding halt

While discharge from the Ukai dam reduced, overflowing rivulets inundated the entire city of Surat on Wednesday. As much as 80% of the area went under water and many areas remained inaccessible till late in the evening.

Incessant rain from Tuesday night threw the situation out of control on Wednesday morning. Heavy rain flooded all six rivulets passing through Surat. As Tapi river was in spate, flood gates were closed.

The flooded rivulets and water began entering the neighbouring areas. Around 12 pm, all areas located near rivulets became inaccessible. About 4-5 feet water covered those areas, blocking traffic and people’s movement.

Rivulet floods blocked Surat-Navsari highway, Udhna-Limbayat main road, Adajan-Rander road, Katargam main road, Simada main road, Dabholi and other areas.

By evening, Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) opened 51 flood gates out of 68 in the city. This helped in draining out the blocked water. Places like Bhestan, Pandesara, Satyna-nagar, South Zone, Pandol, Ved-road, Pal, Adajan and other low-lying areas remained inaccessible.

SMC shifted 14,374 people to safer areas on Wednesday.

The highest block of 6,965 people were shifted from Udhna zone, followed by 2,945 in Limbayat zone and 2,300 in Athwa zone. Again, 1700 people were shifted from the central zone, while 264 and 200 people were shifted from Varchha and Katargam zones, respectively.

Municipal commissioner M K Das said due to low intensity of rain in Bardoli and other areas, inflow into rivulets will be reduced and the situation will return to normal by Thursday morning.

“With the intensity having reduced, water level in rivulets will also come down. Water is receding from many areas and the situation will become fully normal on Thursday. We are monitoring the situation round the clock,” he said.

While Surat suffered rivulet floods, low discharge from the Ukai dam saved the city from devastation. Discharge came down to 1.21 lakh cusecs in the evening. Similar water was discharged from the dam to maintain the rule level.

Incessant rain overflows six rivulets passing through the city and inundates 80% of Surat

Low discharge from Ukai dam saved Surat from major floods.