Ahmedabad floods after 6 inches of rain in 3 hours; 50 rescued from cars and lifts
Several parts of Ahmedabad went under water on Thursday after the first heavy rain of the season. The city recorded an average of 6.43 inches of rain in 12 hours until 8 pm, with the north-western and south-western zones worst affected. The downpour led to suspension of transport services and closure of educational institutions.
Bakrol recorded the highest rainfall at 12.42 inches, followed by Sarkhej at 12.05 inches and Bopal at 10.2 inches. The Bus Rapid Transit System shut down 18 stations due to waterlogging. At least 50 people were rescued from locked cars, lifts and stranded school buses by fire teams.
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 a cremation ground. A school bus carrying students of A-One School near Bakeri City in Vejalpur got stuck in rainwater. Locals and civic authorities rescued the students.
Five cases of wall and roof collapses were reported but no casualties occurred. The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation received 102 complaints of waterlogging. Of the 148 sites that saw waterlogging in the last monsoon spell, 82 areas were affected again. A total of 43 housing societies were waterlogged, the highest in the south-west zone.
Municipal Commissioner Banchhanidhi Pani said that within three hours from 8 am, the city recorded six inches of rain. Areas on both sides of the SG Highway were hit. He stated that 80 residential societies in the northwest zone and 24 in the southwest zone were flooded. Basements were flooded, and dewatering equipment was deployed. Due to less gradient in areas like Ghuma and Bopal, water recedes slowly there.
Roads were flooded in many areas including SG Highway, Makarba, Corporate Road, Sarkhej, Bopal, Bodakdev, Jodhpur, Thaltej, Shilaj, Science City, Gota, Ognaj, Akhbarnagar, and South Bopal. Eight underpasses were closed from 10 am; six reopened by evening. The underpasses at Makarba near Sarkhej and Akhbarnagar near Naranpura remained shut. Parimal Crossroad and Kubernagar underpasses were closed around 7 pm as heavy rain resumed.
