Ahmedabad : Heavy rainfall in catchment areas of dams in neighbouring Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh on Monday pushed up water levels in rivers and water bodies in Gujarat, forcing the authorities to raise an alarm and evacuate 850 people to safety.
The water levels rose dramatically in the city of Ahmedabad, following which the lower promenade of Sabarmati River Front was closed for public as a precaution and over 160 security personnel were stationed at the river front to patrol the area in case of any eventuality.
Heavy rains in the upstream neighbouring Rajasthan saw Dharoi dam in Mehsana receive fresh inflow of 1,54,000 cusecs of water.
As the level of water in Dharoi reached a little above 619 feet, the authorities opened 10 gates of the dam to keep the water level below danger mark of 622 feet.
The authorities also sound alert in over two dozen villages in the low lying areas on the banks of Sabarmati.
With over 54,200 cusecs of water being released in river Sabarmati, the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation opened 18 of the 30 gates of Vasna barrage to bring down the water level in Sabarmati to 126 feet from 132 feet.
In other parts of the state, 700 people were caught amidst rising waters of Mahisagar river in Kanchalpura village of Anand district.
The people were evacuated by locals using boats, with authorities absent from the scene. In Mehsana district, on the other hand, about 150 people were evacuated with the help of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) team.
The water level in the dams across the state reached 73.23 per cent, with major dams having 69.51 per cent water as on August 22, while other dams had 40.48 per cent and the mega Sardar Sarovar Dam on Narmada river was filled to cent per cent capacity.
The water level in Narmada dam has been rising due to release of water from Indira Sagar dam in Madhya Pradesh with the authorities having raised an alert in 23 villages of Bharuch and Narmada districts on the banks of the river.