Gujarat floods: Rains to continue for 3 more days, at least 7,000 evacuated

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Sunday said that Gujarat is likely to experience an active wet spell over the next four days.

Several part of Gujarat, Daman, Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli will experience moderate rainfall and thunderstorms until July 26. Gujarat has so far received almost 56.61 per cent of the total expected rainfall.

Here's a list of the day wise forecast as issued by the IMD:

July 24: Heavy to very heavy rain with extremely heavy falls very likely at isolated places over Gujarat like Saurashtra-Kutch, Daman, Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli

July 25: Heavy to very heavy rain with extremely heavy falls to continue at isolated places over Gujarat region.

July 26: Heavy to very heavy rain very likely at isolated places with extremely heavy falls at isolated places over Gujarat region.

Army, Air Force to the rescue

As the heavy rains have left several low-lying areas of Gujarat inundated, the rescue teams have shidted thousands of people to safer areas.

"During the last two days, around 7,000 people in Morbi, Rajkot, Surendranagar, Banaskantha and Ahmedabad districts were shifted to safe places. Rescue operations have been initiated in Kalol of Gandhinagar and Deodar of Banskantha as both the places received 8 inches of rain during last 24 hours," Director of Relief, A J Shah was quoted by the NDTV.

The Indian Air Force on Sunday, (July 23) safely evacuated a woman, her newborn twins and another pregnant woman from Nana Matra village in Rajkot district which was flooded due to heavy rains.

The village which is located in the low lying areas of Gujarat near Bhadar river was cut off from rest of the district due to the floods.

Defence PRO Wing Commander Abhishek Matiman said that a Chetak helicopter was sent from Jamnagar as soon as a message about the need to evacuate two women who were in critical condition and 'about to deliver' was received at 4.30 pm.

However, while the helicopter was on its way to the rescue, the officials received information that that one of the women had already delivered twins and needed to be immediately airlifted.

"By 1715 hrs the Chetak was already overhead looking for a safe patch of land. The mother, with her new-born twins, and an attendant were instantaneously put into the aircraft and flown out to safety," Matiman said in a press release.

"The aircraft landed at Jasdan helipad where they were handed over to the medical team already waiting," the release added.

The helicopter then flew back to the village to rescue another pregnant woman who was in a critical state. The woman who was bleeding profusely was flown to Bhadar where an ambulance was waiting to aid her.

Here' a video of a rescue operation carried out by the Indian Army: