Ahmedabad, July 15 (UNI) As heavy rains lashed Gujarat for the first 15 days of the monsoon season, State Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel has said that with the timely decisions taken by his government more than 33,000 people have been evacuated and the loss to life and property has been brought under control.
Patel on Thursday said, “There are currently 18 NDRF teams and 18 SDRF platoons operating across the state. Another eight teams are in reserve.” The damage to property is be- ing estimated by surveying the area affected by the rains.
Due to heavy rains, power supply was disrupted in nearly 5,150 villages, of which electricity in 5,110 villages has been restored. Farmers have sown Kharif crops on more than 44,36,980 hectares of land, which is more than 50 percent area cultivated for Kharif crops. Most of the dams are nearly 50 percent filled with rain water. For example, the Sardar Sarovar dam is 48 percent filled more than its capacity with rainwater. The average rainfall recorded in 14 days of July this year is more than double that during the same time period in 2021. In 2021, the average rainfall was 155.92 mm but it is 397.02 mm in 2022 while the average rainfall in the state is 850 mm.
Nearly 50 percent of the total rainfall for July has been recorded in 20 talukas from July 8-11. Each taluka has received more than 50 mm of rainfall till now. For the first time in this decade, Gujarat has received such a huge amount of rainfall in July. Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Rajendra Trivedi, while briefing the media about a review meeting over the rainfall situation in the state at Gandhinagar, said that due to heavy rains, six persons were rescued by a chopper with the help of the State Coast Guard. However, rescue operations are still underway to airlift people. He added that a total of 39,177 people have been relocated to safer places by the state administration, of which a total of 17,394 people have re- turned home while 21,243 people have taken shelter at various places and are being provided adequate arrangements, including food by the administration. A total of 570 civilians trapped in water have been rescued.
