[ARABNEWS] Flash flooding triggered by torrential rains has killed 41 people in India's western Gujarat...where rioting seems to be a traditional passtime...
state, as the annual monsoon season hits the country, a disaster management official said Thursday.
Authorities have evacuated more than 10,000 residents mainly from coastal areas of Gujarat following heavy rains in the last 24 hours, the state government said in a statement.
The coastal district of Amreli was the worst affected, with 36 people killed in flood-related incidents, a duty officer in the state's disaster control room said.
"There have been 41 deaths across the state with 36 in Amreli, three in Bhavnagar and two in Rajkot districts," the official told AFP.
Thirteen of the deaths in Amreli occurred when two houses collapsed in the flooding, local police deputy superintendent Pinakin Parmar told AFP.
India normally sees flooding during the monsoon but the intensity of this year's rains in Gujarat has surprised many.
The air force has been deployed to help with evacuations, including that of 44 passengers of a bus stuck on a flooded highway near Amreli town, the government's statement said.