3 killed as rain, wind lash south Gujarat

SURAT: Two persons lost their lives in Surat while another was killed in Valsad district on Wednesday as torrential rains lashed south Gujarat accompanied by strong winds blowing up to 60 km per hour. Surat recorded 119mm of rain in just six hours.
One of the deceased in Surat was identified as Bharat Iswar Desai (42) of Kosmada village. He was electrocuted when he accidentally touched a live wire.The identity of the second person, a youth, is not known yet. The boy fell in an open manhole near Althan garden in Surat and his body was recovered from the nearby Althan lake.
Surat city was paralyzed in the morning by a heavy downpour and trees falling at several places. A total of 385 tree falls were reported in the district of which 280 were from the city.
Around 1300 people were shifted to safer places from Udhna and Limbayat areas as Mithi Khadi and Bhedwad Khadi creeks flowed a metre above the danger mark. They were shifted to emergency centers opened by Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC). Eighteen residents of Kumbhariya village were also shifted following rains. Surat district also reported 60 incidents of roofs being blown away by high velocity winds.
The statue of Shivaji at Sahara Darwaja tilted as the land below it caved in on Wednesday. SMC officials have started dismantling the statue to avoid an accident.
Meanwhile, in Valsad district Gavji Loti of Narwad village in Kaprada taluka was crushed under the debris of his house that collapsed.
Valsad collector R Arora said, "We have closed all 23 ports of the district and asked the people not to venture in the sea."
His counterpart in Surat Dr Rajender Kumar said, "We have issued an advisory to school managements to keep their institutions closed for the day on Thursday."
Surat municipal commissioner Milind Torwane said that the SMC has enough manpower to deal with the situation. "Maximum damage has been done by falling of trees. The garden department teams are clearing the roads," he said.