Owing to the incessant rainfall over the last three days, low-lying areas in Surat were on Friday inundated. Surat also witnessed creek floods. Limbayat, which houses the migrant population working in textile and other industries, was the most affected.
Relief camps have been set up in several municipal corporation schools for around 227 people who were affected by creek floods, while water was being cleared in some areas.
Sources in the Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) stated that from June 23 to 26, a total of 459 mm of rainfall was recorded in Limbayat, accounting for 30 per cent of rainfall received by the area in the entire monsoon season. Apart from this, due to the heavy rain in the upper catchment areas, the water levels of Mithi Creek and Koili Creek, which pass through Limbayat, had risen to 8.85 meters and 7.50 meters, respectively. However, on Friday, the water levels in these creeks dropped to 7.35 meters (Mithi) and 6.75 meters (Koili), respectively. The dip in the water level was led by a sea tide.
During June 23-26, a total of 36 complaints of waterlogging were received at Limbayat’s zone-level control room, out of which 15 complaints were disposed of, and work on the remaining was in progress. A total of 227 people were rescued from affected areas of Mithikhadi, Halpativas, Mandarwaja, Navikoloni, Railrahat, Khwajanagar, Kumbhariyagam, behind Raonagar cemetery, Parvatpurva, and other locations in the Limbayat zone. They were shifted to seven relief camps. In addition, due to the rising level of Koyali Creek, residents living in the areas of Khwajanagar, Bakhar Maholla, Sanjaynagar, Ashanagar, Rajivnagar were relocated to the relief centre at Umarwada Community Hall, Umarwada Low-Cost Colony Primary School No. 192, and Mandarwaja Tenement Primary School No. 43/44. On Friday, some also returned to their homes after the water level went down, according to sources in the SMC.
A release by the SMC also stated that starting during June 24-27, health screening of 2.24 lakh people were done in Surat, out of which 1,215 were given treatment on the spot. Also, 40,275 food packets and 20,800 water bottles were distributed to creek flood-affected areas in the city. Approximately 10 roads affected by the flood were closed, of which, eight were later reopened for traffic. During this period, a pregnant woman from Khadipur was rescued by the fire department and taken to the hospital.
Surat Municipal Commissioner Shalini Agrawal, meanwhile, visited the flood-affected areas and interacted with people. With the situation in Limbayat being critical, she has been monitoring the work being done by SMC staffers.
