Flood Alert as Rains Kill 15
25/09/2005| IslamWeb
India's western state of Gujarat was on flood alert yesterday after two days of lashing monsoon rains that killed at least 15 people. "We have alerted all district ... officials in Gujarat to be prepared for flooding and start evacuating people from the low lying areas," said Rajesh Kishore, head of Gujarat's disaster management authority.
A state weather official said, however, the worst of the storm was over.
"The weather system has moved towards the northeast. The rains in Gujarat will stop now," the official said.
Flooding, however, continued to be of concern as rains were still pounding states bordering Gujarat.
Anil Mukim, municipal official of the state's commercial hub Ahmedabad, warned that waters had been released from the Dharoi dam into the Sabarmati river which passes through the city.
"People residing downstream could be affected by this sudden rise in river water levels. We have opened a few schools in the vicinity to accommodate people living close to the river, who will have to be shifted," said Mukim.
More than 95 state and national highways were cut off to traffic while some 118 irrigation dams were in danger of overflowing, other officials said.
Officials of the state flood control room put the death toll at 15.
In Southern state of Andhra Pradesh, floods caused by a powerful storm have receded but more than 120,000 people remained in relief camps.
"The flood situation has eased, with water receding from many places in the state," said Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhar Reddy.
At least 74 people have died and 150,000 have lost their homes or have been displaced in the downpours since the storm broke on Tuesday and raged on for 48 hours.
Hundreds of medical teams have fanned out across the state to prevent epidemics of water-borne disease such as gastroenteritis, malaria, dengue fever and Japanese encephalitis.
The flow in the state's Krishna and Godavari rivers had fallen despite rains in the adjoining western state of Maharashtra.
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