Ahmedabad city witnessed heavy rains with strong winds today amid thick black clouds and darkness in broad daylight. The Meteorological Department has issued a 'red alert' of extremely heavy rains in the city till 1 pm. Due to the cloud cover, visibility has become poor, and the movement of vehicles on the roads has come to a standstill and as a safety measure, the Mithakali underpass has been immediately closed for vehicular traffic.
Waterlogging in West and East Ahmedabad
Heavy rain accompanied by thunder and lightning has lashed areas including SG Highway, Helmet Circle, Gurukul Road, Gujarat University, Vijay Char Rasta, Andhajan Mandal, Satellite, Shivranjani, Vejalpur, Jodhpur, Prahlad Nagar and ISKCON in the western part of the city. Due to the darkness, motorists were in trouble as they could not see the road ahead and thousands of citizens who had gone out for work and business were stuck.
On the other hand, Vastral, Hathijan, Odhav, Nikol, Isanpur, Maninagar, Narol, Vatva, Naroda Patiya and Kubernagar ITI areas of East Ahmedabad have received widespread rain since morning. As the roads were flooded, the streets and roads turned into rivers, causing heavy traffic jams with long queues of vehicles at major junctions of the city.
Water level of Sabarmati River and Vasna Barrage
Keeping in view the continuous flow of rainwater, the water level of Sabarmati river has been controlled at 129 feet. To maintain the water level in the river and discharge excess water, three gates of Vasna Barrage have been opened up to 1 foot. Municipal Corporation and Disaster Management teams have been deployed to deal with the problem of waterlogging.
Warning for the next 3 hours in 18 districts of the state
According to the latest forecast of the Meteorological Department, there is a possibility of heavy rainfall across the state for the next 3 hours. Red alert has been issued in 18 districts of the state including Ahmedabad, including Gandhinagar, Sabarkantha, Aravalli, Mehsana, Surendranagar, Kheda, Anand, Vadodara, Bharuch as well as Morbi, Rajkot, Jamnagar, Bhavnagar, Botad, Amreli, Junagadh and Gir Somnath in Saurashtra. The administration has appealed to the citizens not to go out unnecessarily and to be careful.
