Rajkot/Surat: What began as a relatively quiet morning, with barely an inch of rainfall till noon, snowballed into monsoon mayhem in Junagadh’s coastal Mangrol taluka by evening, leaving the region battered by nearly 500 mm (about 20 inches) of rain in just 14 hours on Friday.Though there were no deaths or mass shifting of people from low-lying areas, authorities in Junagadh remained on edge as incessant rain triggered flash floods.While all 10 talukas of Junagadh reeled under a wet spell, Mangrol, with 63 villages, saw the dramatic rain day. Between 6pm and 8pm alone, a staggering 203mm of rain poured down, after 102mmin the preceding two hours, inundating roads and low-lying areas and bringing vehicular movement to a standstill.As a precaution, NDRF teams have been kept on standby in Junagadh and Gir Somnath districts.During the same period, the adjoining Maliya-Hatina taluka was also pummeled by 355mm of rainfall, with one intense spell of 97mm between 2pm and 4pm.Several ONGC employees stranded by flooding in Buri village of Manavadar taluka were rescued and shifted to safety by the district administration.The south-west monsoon gathered more steam in south Gujarat. Verdant Dang donned a spectacular look as continuous rain sent the famed Gira Falls into full flow, rivers snaking through its forests flowing bank to bank, and hills shrouded in a blanket of mist.Talukas like Chikhli in Navsari and Waghai in Dang also witnessed exceptionally intense spells within two hours, but in sharp contrast to Mangrol, the downpours receded sharply to 14mm and 11mm, respectively, in the evening.In equally lush adjoining Valsad, rainfall brought less cheer and more frustration as a large number of societies struggled with heavy waterlogging and overflowing drainage.In Veraval, rainwater entered several shops, while Rajendra Bhuvan Road and the premises of the Veraval municipality office were inundated. More than 300 houses in Prabhas Patan were flooded.The deluge forced temporary road closures as floodwaters overtopped key stretches, with 37 roads blocked in Dang and 24 in Surat district. In Dang, rescuers safely brought out 41 migrant workers who were stranded near Nilshakya village after the Khapri river overflowed.
