Marooned in May! Downpour paralyses Ahmedabad, yellow alert issued

AHMEDABAD: The city woke up to chaos on Wednesday as a rare May downpourswamped the city, paralysing its daily rhythm. The intense overnight showers, followed by a fresh spell in the morning, left roads submerged, underpasses closed, and commuters stranded in traffic jams.According to the State Emergency Operation Center (SEOC), the city recorded 27.14mm rainfall between 6am and 8am alone, on top of the night's 44.84mm average, with some areas clocking even higher figures.The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) reported that Jodhpur area received the highest rainfall at 89mm, followed by Bodakdev with 64.9mm and Danapith with 44mm. Across the city, from Shivranjani and Vejalpur to Makarba, Anandnagar and Navrangpura, roads turned into streams. Commuters were seen abandoning their submerged vehicles in the middle of the road in several areas.Some 50 locations in the city were waterlogged due to the heavy rains, and at 10 least places were inundated for more than four hours. These include Kubernagar, IIMA Road, Naranpura, Makarba Police Headquarter Road, Sabarmati D Cabin Underpass, and Jodhpur Pancha Lake."Rain turned my usual one-hour commute from Gandhinagar to Ahmedabad into two frustrating hours today. Waterlogged roads, traffic jams, and delays made everything slower. It's the same chaos every monsoon, year after year," said Pratik Patel, a commuter. The Mithakhali and Makarba underpasses remained shut through the morning due to excessive water accumulation, adding to traffic snarls.Prakriti Shah, a college student, said, "The buses got delayed, and the rain disrupted everything. We ended up getting extremely late to college, reaching there completely soaked. It gets tough when public transport fails during rains."While water began receding from most affected areas by noon, overcast skies persisted through the day in Ahmedabad. Officials remain on high alert, and residents are urged to avoid waterlogged areas and follow safety advisories closely.The India Meteorological Department (IMD) attributed the unusual May rainfall to an upper air cyclonic circulation over northwest Madhya Pradesh and neighbourhood at 0.9km above mean sea level. A trough runs from the northeast Arabian Sea to cyclonic circulation over West Madhya Pradesh across Gujarat between 3.1km and 5.8km above mean sea level. Such weather systems are rare during Gujarat's peak summer season and have triggered rain, hailstorms, and gusty winds across the state."We have issued a red alert for May 7 in Bhavnagar and Amreli in the Saurashtra-Kutch region, where extremely heavy rainfall in isolated places, thunderstorms with lightning, and wind speeds of 60–70 km per hour in gusts were observed. Red alerts also remain in effect for Ahmedabad, Anand, Valsad, and Dadra and Nagar Haveli, with the possibility of heavy to very heavy rainfall in isolated pockets along with thunderstorms and lightning and a wind speed of 60-70 km/h in gusts," explained Dr Ashok Kumar Das, Director of IMD Gujarat.Looking ahead to May 8, the IMD has issued an orange alert for districts including Anand, Bharuch, Valsad, Daman-Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Sabarkantha, Mahisagar, and parts of Saurashtra-Kutch-Bhavnagar, Gir Somnath, Rajkot, and Amreli and South Gujarat where heavy rainfall is expected along with thunderstorms and lightning."For Ahmedabad, no heavy rainfall is expected tomorrow. The city will remain under a yellow warning, with light to moderate rain, isolated thunderstorms, lightning, and wind speeds around 50-60 kmph in gusts. Beyond May 8, there is no heavy rainfall warning. However, there will be a thunderstorm with lightning warning for the entire state and the union territories of Daman, Diu, and Dadra and Nagar Haveli from May 9-11.We are closely monitoring the system as it evolves," Dr Das added.In view of the rainfall, civic authorities opened Gate No. 2 of the Vasna Barrage, where the water level reached 133.5ft. Local authorities were directed to alert nearby villages and prepare for any potential flood impact.(With Inputs from Navya Nair & Palak Yadav)