The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued a red alert for Bharuch and Valsad as heavy rains continue to batter parts of Gujarat. The state has been grappling with severe flooding that has resulted in at least 40 fatalities and displaced over 55,000 people across 25 districts since August 25.
On Tuesday, significant rainfall was recorded in various parts of Gujarat. Bharuch’s Valia reported the highest rainfall with 156 mm from 6 am to 6 pm, followed by Netrang with 127 mm, Umarpada in Surat with 105 mm, Valsad with 104 mm, and Jotana in Mehsana with 95 mm.
In response to the flooding crisis, the Indian Coast Guard has been actively involved in rescue operations. The Coast Guard deployed four ships and two aircraft, including a helicopter that was used to evacuate an injured crew member from a tanker that had ditched into the sea off the Porbandar coast after an emergency hard landing late on Monday. Unfortunately, two personnel from the Dhruv advanced light helicopter were found deceased, while the search for the missing pilot continued into Tuesday evening.
The IMD has forecasted that heavy to light rainfall will persist in Gujarat until the weekend. Over 15,000 villages in the state are currently facing power outages due to the extensive damage caused by the flooding. The situation has been worsened by Cyclone Asna, which has exacerbated the already dire flood conditions.
A recent study by the Machine Intelligence and Resilience Laboratory (MIR Lab) at the Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar (IITGN) revealed that 12 of Gujarat’s 33 districts experienced one-day rainfall totals that exceeded the 10-year return period, a statistical measure indicating the frequency of extreme weather events. Notably, districts such as Morbi and Dwarka saw rainfall that surpassed the 50-year return threshold, a phenomenon typically observed only once in half a century. Over a two-day period, 17 districts experienced rainfall exceeding the 10-year return period, while Jamnagar, Morbi, and Devbhumi Dwarka saw levels surpassing the 50-year threshold.
The study highlighted the challenges posed by concurrent extreme weather events affecting multiple regions simultaneously, which complicates emergency response efforts. The stretched resources make rescue, relief, and evacuation operations increasingly difficult, underscoring the need for scalable emergency response strategies to manage widespread weather events.
Udit Bhatia, principal investigator at MIR Lab, emphasized the importance of understanding urban flooding dynamics. He noted that the granularity of available data might not fully capture the specifics of urban flooding, often driven by short-duration, high-intensity rainfall that overwhelms city drainage systems. Prolonged rainfall can saturate the soil, leading to increased surface runoff in subsequent downpours and exacerbating flooding, particularly in urban areas with inadequate or compromised drainage systems.
Vadodara serves as a pertinent example of this phenomenon. Despite experiencing rainfall over three days that corresponded to a return period of less than 10 years, the city faced severe flooding. This suggests that while the rainfall was not unprecedented, the flooding was likely intensified by factors such as extensive urban development in flood-prone areas, altered land elevations, and clogged drainage systems due to rapid urbanization.
The IITGN study concluded that the recurrence of unusual weather events along India’s western coast highlights the urgent need to rethink urban planning and infrastructure resilience. As rapid urbanization continues to alter regional and local hydrology and strain drainage systems, incorporating hydrological considerations into urban development strategies becomes crucial. Addressing these challenges is essential to reducing the risks associated with increasingly frequent and severe weather events and ensuring that cities are better equipped to withstand future storms.
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