Heavy rains devastate Ahmedabad

AHMEDABAD - A building collapsed, water entered over 300 housing societies and trains were cancelled as torrential rains lashed and crippled Ahmedabad Sunday.

Heavy rains also enveloped central and south Gujarat. The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted heavy rains until Monday.

An informed source said five people were killed in Ahmedabad where heavy rains started late Saturday but there was no official confirmation.

Four people apparently died when a building collapsed in Dudeshwar area while one man drowned in an underpass.

More than 300 housing societies across the city were waterlogged, 60 of them in Bopal area alone. The runway at the Ahmedabad airport came under a sea of water early Sunday.

Domestic flights were delayed but took off later in the morning. An international flight to Dubai was cancelled, leaving over 200 passengers stranded.

At least 10 trains have been cancelled while others have been running two to six hours late after tracks went under water.

M.S. Patel, deputy commissioner of the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation, said the situation would improve considerably as five gates of the Vaasna barrage were opened to allow water from the city to flow out.

Kamaljit Ray, director of IMD in Gujarat, said: “Ahmedabad district has already received about 50 percent more rainfall than the season’s average.”