40,000 evacuated due to floods in Guj

Ahmedabad: A fresh flood warning has been issued in the state of Gujarat and 40,000 people from Ahmedabad, Baroda, Anand and Kheda have already been evacuated.

People in the low lying areas of Panchmahal district have been warned of flash floods after 4.54 lakh cusecs of water were released into River Mahi from the Kadana dam on Tuesday evening.

The water-level in the Kadana dam at 1800 IST hrs on Wednesday was at 414 feet, while its danger level stands at 419 feet.

According to flood control room sources in Gandhinagar, there was an inflow of 6.20 lakh cusecs of water in the Kadana dam following heavy rains in the catchment areas of Chittorgarh and Banswada of Rajasthan.

Bajajsagar dam in Banswada has also discharged water into the Kadana dam, causing fresh fear of floods, the sources said.

The authorities have opened 28 of the 30 gates of Vasna barrage to allow the water to flow out of Ahmedabad.

With very little rains in its catchment area since Wednesday morning, the state authorities hope the additional one lakh cusec water being released from Dharoi dam wouldn't affect the city.

But the government officials are still edgy about the rising water levels in other parts of the state.

The state administration has started evacuations A flood warning has been issued for Ahmedabad city as well, after water levels in River Sabarmati rose late on Tuesday night.

Rescue teams are on standby and people have been evacuated from low lying areas.

Says Municipal Commissioner, Ahmedabad, I P Gutam, "We had evacuated 7,000 people to safer places. We have also warned people staying at low lying areas especially at Parali, Basna, Subash Mills Khanpur, Behrampura as the situation is expected to continue for the next 24 hours.'

Meanwhile, there is inflow of 4.22 lakh cusecs of water in the Sardar Sarovar Dam on River Narmada with the outflow being at 1.91 lakh cusecs.

The safe water level of Sardar Sarovar is 119 metres and with water overflowing at 121.57 metres - 2.57 metres in excess - an alarm has been sounded in many low lying villages of the Bharuch district.

In the next 24 hours, there is a possibility of water overflowing at 123 metre mark, said officials, who have also estimated flood losses to be approximately Rs 35,000 crore in the state.

Oil and refinery major ONGC has reported a property loss of between Rs 100 and 150 crore, while a production loss of Rs 41 crore per day due has been approximated to the Hazira plant shut down.

The company will require an investment of Rs 19 crore to restart operations in Hazira plant, but it promises to restart operations by August 19.

Meanwhile, GAIL has been asked to look for alternative sources of gas and

NTPC's 655 MW Kawas plant is still not operational due to no power demand.

Essar Steel and Essar Power's Hazira units are still working below capacity and L&T's Hazira plant is operating at 50 per cent capacity. However, RIL's Hazira plant is functioning normally.

(With inputs from Sunil Raghu in Ahmedabad)