Surat: Rains continued to pound the South Gujarat region for the third consecutive day on Wednesday, forcing evacuation of 800 people , who were shifted to safer locations as rain water entered low-lying areas of Navsari and Vijalpore. Navsari district received 324mm of rain since Tuesday morning.Usman Kazi (22) from Islampura in Bardoli, Surat, was swept away in heavy water currents of Koyli Khadi (creek) on Wednesday. He along with his eight friends had gone to celebrate rains near Koyli Khadi in the morning. His body was fished out by his friends few meters away after an hour.Number of low-lying areas of Navsari town were inundated in 2ft water and in many areas rain water entered people’s homes.Following heavy rains over the past couple of days and more forecast for the next few days, Navsari district administration ordered closure of all primary schools on Wednesday as a precautionary measure and has requested a team of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) for Thursday.Navsari taluka received 178mm rainfall overnight, while Jalalpore city (in Navsari district) received 169mm rainfall. River Purna in Navsari was flowing near the danger mark, the district officials said. Heavy rain threw normal life out of gear in Navsari as it led to flooding and caused traffic jams.In Navsari, areas like Dasera Tekri, CR Paatil Nagar, Shantadevi Road were under water, whereas in Vejalpore cotton mills, Suryanagar, Halpati vas were inundated. Heavy flooding was also reported from Kaliyawadi near Bhoot bungalow, where the water level was about 2ft.Navsari collector MD Modiya said, “Till now there has been no casualty and river levels are still below the danger level mark. If rains stop by Wednesday night, things could soon return to normal by Thursday. We have called for an NDRF team as a precaution.”Meanwhile, Valsad district administration issued a flood alert on Wednesday afternoon as levels of river Auranga river there had crossed the danger mark of 4 metre. In Valsad district, Dharmapur recorded 151mm of rain on Wednesday. As the river was flowing over the bridge on Bandar road and at Kailash Marg, the bridges were closed for commuters.“We have had issued flood alert as Auranga was swelling with heavy inflow of water. With rains taking a break in upper catchment areas of Dharampur, water inflow is likely to ebb by Thursday,” Valsad collector B A Kharsan said.In Surat district, Bardoli recorded 242mm of rains over the last two days, whereas Mahua received 249mm of rains during the same time. Surat city recorded just 40mm of rains in the last two days.

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