By Heavy rain continued to lash parts of Gujarat on August 1, 2026, with the India Meteorological Department maintaining a red alert for four districts — Ahmedabad, Anand, Surendranagar and Rajkot.
The IMD has also issued an orange alert for 12 districts, including Banaskantha, Vav-Tharad, Patan, Mehsana, Sabarkantha, Gandhinagar, Aravalli, Bharuch, Bhavnagar, Morbi, Botad and Kutch, citing the risk of isolated heavy to extremely heavy rainfall.
The alert list has narrowed since July 31, when 13 districts, including Vadodara, Narmada, Chhota Udepur, Surat, Tapi, Dang, Navsari and Valsad, were under red alert, prompting schools and colleges to shut in Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Anand and Kheda.
Ahmedabad’s anganwadis will remain closed until August 3 as a precaution, according to local authorities, even as the district stays under red alert.
The state’s disaster response machinery remains on high alert, with officials coordinating relief and pumping arrangements in low-lying areas prone to waterlogging.
The IMD expects the situation to ease from August 2, when eight districts are likely to move to a yellow alert as the rain system weakens.
The state government has asked district collectors in affected regions to keep emergency helplines active and to coordinate with the State Emergency Operation Centre through the alert period.
The IMD’s warning system uses a four-colour scale of green, yellow, orange and red, with red reserved for extremely heavy rainfall that requires immediate action from local authorities and the public.
Fishermen along the Gujarat coast have been advised not to venture into the sea during the alert period, as the same weather system bringing heavy rain has also stirred up rough conditions offshore.
The India Meteorological Department has attributed the spell of heavy rain to an active monsoon system moving across the western coast, a pattern it has tracked closely through the final week of July.
Disaster management authorities in the affected districts have been placed on standby, with local administrations coordinating rescue teams and pumping equipment in low-lying areas prone to waterlogging.
Photo by Rakesh Krishna Kumar, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0
