Photo by Rakesh Krishna Kumar, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0
Gujarat remains under an India Meteorological Department red alert in four districts — Ahmedabad, Anand, Surendranagar and Rajkot — for August 1, 2026, with heavy to extremely heavy rainfall forecast in these areas.
An orange alert has been issued for 12 more districts, among them Banaskantha, Vav-Tharad, Patan, Mehsana, Sabarkantha, Gandhinagar, Aravalli, Bharuch, Bhavnagar, Morbi, Botad and Kutch, warning of isolated heavy to extremely heavy rain.
The list marks a reduction from July 31, when 13 districts — including Vadodara, Narmada, Chhota Udepur, Surat, Tapi, Dang, Navsari and Valsad — were under red alert, forcing school and college closures in Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Anand and Kheda.
Anganwadis across Ahmedabad will stay shut until August 3, district officials confirmed, even as the city continues under red alert into the following day.
Gujarat’s disaster management authorities have been placed on high alert, holding coordination meetings to prepare for further impact from the ongoing weather system.
The IMD expects conditions to ease by August 2, when eight districts are forecast to shift to a yellow alert as the rain-bearing system moves on.
Gujarat has seen an active monsoon through late July, with several districts already recording rainfall well above the seasonal average for this point in the year.
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.
Photo by Rakesh Krishna Kumar, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0
