Normal life not in sight for rain-battered Dwarka

Rajkot: The temple town of Dwarka, which is flooded with tourists all around the year, was struggling to return to normalcy after two days of incessant downpours that brought the bustling pilgrim center to a complete standstill.
Dwarka was battered by 550mm rainfall in two days since Friday. After a brief break, the town woke up to showers as 175mm rainfall was recorded from 6am to 10am.
Areas like Bhadrakali Chowk, Gurudwara and Iskon Gate, which house many shops, restaurants, hotels and banks, were also in waist-deep waters on Saturday.However, there were no human fatalities.
However, the famous Dwarkadhish temple is open as it’s located on an elevation.
A hotel owner, Nirmal Samani said, "Due to the underground wiring in Dwarka, there is no major power outage and tourists are not facing any inconvenience. Some got accommodation in small hotels or guest houses where there is no in-house kitchen facility.
A total of 114 electricity poles in Dwarka and Kalyanpur talukas were damaged, with 78 restored so far. Another 19 poles were damaged in Khambhaliya taluka.
Floodwaters affected many housing societies in Surajkaradi, Arambhda, and Udhyognagar, some 20 km from Dwarka with several internal roads cut off. The Dwarka-Mithapur highway was blocked near Mojap due to heavy waterlogging. Poshitra village turned into an island. Kuranga chokdi on the Dwarka-Porbandar highway was also blocked. The river in Bhogat village of Kalyanpur taluka overflowed, flooding nearby villages and farmland.
The villages of Kalyanpur and Okha taluka also experienced significant rainfall.
District collector GT. Pandya told TOI that, “The water is flowing over the causeway. As a precaution, we have discontinued several routes of state transport buses in Kalyanpur taluka. We have shifted 60 people from the Rupen Bandar area into the shelter home who were living in the low-lying areas.”
Meanwhile, a migrant labourer from Uttar Pradesh, Virendra Yadav (35) died from a lightning strike in Bherda village of Wankaner taluka in Morbi district on Friday night.