At least 18 people have died since Monday when torrential rains whipped parts of western Gujarat of India, state officials said.
Disaster response equipment has been deployed to help residents in the south of the state, who are preparing for a larger rain of the monsoon.
“Eighteen people have lost their lives in rain -related incidents, while dozens have been rescued in low areas by disaster response equipment,” said the state government on Tuesday night.
The worst hit areas included Palitana and Jesar Towns, who on Tuesday recorded 867 millimeters of rain in the last 24 hours.
The state commissioner Aid Kumar Pandey said that the 18 deaths were the result of storms, rays and structural collapses due to bad weather.
“The State is totally oriented to handle the situation, and interdepartmental coordination is intensifying to guarantee rapid operations of relief and rescue,” Pandey said.
The rescued included 18 agricultural workers who were trapped in mango orchards in the Gadhada area and 22 people in the Southern District, where the waters of an overflowing river sprouted in their homes.
The annual monsoon season of India from June to September offers a respite from the intense heat of the summer and is crucial to replace water supplies.
But dozens of people die every year during the rainy season due to sudden floods and landslides throughout India, a country of 1.4 billion people.
