Meanwhile, fire teams rescued at least 50 people from locked cars, lifts, and stranded school buses. (Bhupendra Rana)

A school bus carrying students of A-One School near Bakeri City in Vejalpur got stuck in rainwater.

A rescue operation was launched by locals and AMC authorities. The students on board the bus were evacuated. Civic teams rescued people stuck in a building in Bopal-Ambli area and in a vehicle in Anandnagar, apart from evacuations carried out in the residential areas of Manekbaug.

Five cases of wall and roof collapses were reported from different parts of the city, though no casualty was caused.
Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation said they received 102 complaints regarding waterlogging. “Out of the 148 sites where such complaints were received in the last spell of monsoon, 82 areas saw waterlogging again,” said an official statement.

In all, 43 housing societies were waterlogged, the highest in the south-west zone of the city. South Bopal was among the worst affected “because of its topography”, as per the release.

Ahmedabad Municipal Commissioner Banchhanidhi Pani said: “The rainfall started around 8 am. Within three hours, Ahmedabad city recorded six inches of rain. Areas on both sides of SG Highway were hit. Earlier, Sarkhej had the highest recorded rainfall, which has now been taken over by Bopal. Bakrol, Makarba, Jodhpur and Vejalpur were also severely affected.”
Due to high-intensity rainfall, 80 residential societies in the northwest zone and 24 in the southwest zone were flooded, the commissioner stated.

“Basements of these societies are flooded with rainwater. AMC has deployed dewatering equipment. The west zone too received heavy rainfall, but due to the Sabarmati, water recedes quickly from there. Due to the less gradient of land in areas like Ghuma and Bopal, water recedes slowly there,” Pani added.

Rescue operations were carried out at Sun City in Bopal, where people were stranded in an elevator, and in Gota, where people were stuck in a car near the cremation ground.
(Bhupendra Rana)

Roads were flooded in posh areas like near SG Highway, Makarba, Corporate Road, Sarkhej, Bopal, Bodakdev, Jodhpur, Thaltej, Shilaj, Science City, Gota, Ognaj and Akhbarnagar, South Bopal and Makarba.

Underpasses shut
Eight underpasses in the city were shut for traffic from 10 am, with six reopening by the evening. The two that remained shut are Makarba near Sarkhej and Akbharnagar near Naranpura.
The underpasses at Parimal Crossroad and Kubernagar were closed around 7 pm as heavy downpour resumed after a brief halt.

“With the highest rainfall in southwest and northwest zones, a deputy municipal commissioner and additional staff have been deployed in each of these zones,” Pani added.

Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel also got stuck on the SG Highway near Zydus Crossroads while going to Gandhinagar. A temporary barricading was removed to let his convoy pass.

Barrage gates opened
Twenty of the 30 gates of the Vasna barrage, located downstream of the Sabarmati, were opened to release water that had reached close to the danger mark at 131.75 feet. The flood control department advised caution for villages downstream as the water released through the Fatewadi canal could cause flooding of the banks.

People in Galiana, Rinja, Khada, Milrampur, Chitarwada, Dugari, Nabhoi, Mota Kalodara, Fatehpur, Pachegam and Kasbara of Tarapur taluka of Anand district, as well as Golana and Pandad villages of Khambhat taluka, have been urged by the Anand district administration not to go into the riverbed and move away from low-lying areas, a government release said.

Schools, colleges closed, wall collapse  

In view of the IMD’s forecast of heavy and very heavy rainfall in Ahmedabad city, Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation has announced the closure of all schools and colleges in the city on Friday.

As many as 58 incidents of tree-felling were reported from Ahmedabad on Thursday. The traffic movement near Deer Circle was disrupted as a tree fell on the road.
The diaphragm wall on one side of the scheme named The Impress in Jodhpur Ward, in South Bopal, collapsed. A similar incident was reported at the same site on July 6.

“The permit for the said site has been suspended. The repair work of the diaphragm wall that collapsed has started. The road was closed and barricaded for traffic movement,” AMC authorities said.

Emergency calls 

The Ahmedabad Fire and Emergency Services (AFES) said it responded to 81 calls, mostly related to incidents resulting out of the heavy downpour that inundated the city beginning early morning and not stopping, except intermittently, till the time of writing this report.

Among them, 42 were regarding trees collapsing due to winds and rain; 15 were incidents where people had to be rescued from rising water levels. The firefighters also battled 17 blazes and five wall collapses.

Also, City Commissioner of Police Anupam Singh Gahlaut appealed to the people not to leave home in view of the heavy rain and make sure their children and elderly family members were safe.

The municipal chief, in a video message, appealed to organisations to allow people to work from home on Friday.

“In the wake of likely heavy rainfall on July 24, organisations are requested to declare a holiday or allow work from home. Traffic issues were seen at several places today. To avoid this tomorrow, organisations are requested to lend support,” Pani stated.

IMD alert

The IMD had issued red alert against ‘exceptionally heavy’ rainfall in Kheda, Ahmedabad, Anand, Panchmahal, Dahod, Vadodara, Chhota Udepur, Narmada, Bharuch, Surat, Dang Navsari, Valsad and Tapi for July 23, and districts of Panchmahal, Dahod and Mahisagar for July 24.

Also, heavy to very heavy rainfall is expected in Sabarkantha, Gandhinagar, Aravalli, Kheda, Ahmedabad, Anand, Vadodara, Chhota Udepur, Bharuch, Surat, Navsari, Valsad and Surendranagar, which are under orange alert on July 24.

On July 25, heavy to very heavy rainfall is expected in Sabarkantha and Aravalli; in Banaskantha and Sabarkantha on July 26.

(With inputs from Brendan Dabhi)