PALANPUR: As many as 25,000 people were shifted, mostly in
Banaskantha, as the district faced its worst floods in recent years on Monday.
In Pics: Gujarat Floods — Rescue operations in full swingAround 1,000 people stranded in floods were rescued from various villages with the help of
Army,
Air Force,
Border Security Force and National Disaster Response Force that were rushed to the district.
Read this story in GujaratiAround 10,300 people were shifted in Banaskantha district while 9,790 were taken to safer locations in Patan.
Some 2,800 were shifted in Ahmedabad as a precautionary measure.
(Heavy waterlogging at Hatkeshwar circle in Ahmedabad due to heavy rains).
The situation was particularly grim in Dhanera, Deesa and Tharad towns where rain waters flooded houses and drowned vehicles parked on the roads. Dhanera alone got 235 mm rainfall in just six hours. All gates of Dantiwada, Sukhbhadar and Sipu dams were opened after massive influx of water.
(Visuals from Banaskantha)Heavy rains in adjoining Rajasthan only worsened the situation in the region and water released from Dantiwada and Dharoi dams started inundating several villages in the region.
(Visuals from Saladi village near Liliya in Amreli)With more heavy rains forecast, six additional teams of NDRF were called in from Pune to augment the efforts of 14 teams that are already deployed across the state.
People rescued by Indian Air Force from flooded village of Banaskantha.Two IAF helicopters were also pressed into service in Banaskantha to rescue stranded families. However, continuous rainfall and strong winds hampered the relief operations and one chopper carrying food packets and other material to Dhanera had to return to Deesa.