Gujarat’s monsoon has split the state in two this year. South Gujarat and parts of Saurashtra are dealing with flooded roads and swollen rivers, while Kutch and North Gujarat are still waiting for their season to properly begin. State rainfall data reported by Gujarat Samachar puts the divide in hard numbers: South Gujarat has logged 668.65 mm so far, 43.36% of its seasonal average, while Kutch has received just 17.10 mm, a mere 3.42% of what it normally expects by this point.
The numbers behind the split
Saurashtra sits in between at 230.58 mm, 30.25% of its seasonal share, and North Gujarat trails at 107.05 mm, or 14.66%. The statewide average of 261.59 mm works out to only 28.78% of what the season is supposed to deliver overall, a figure that masks just how unevenly that rain has fallen. As recently as July 1, DeshGujarat reported the state had received just 3.87% of its seasonal rainfall, underlining how quickly South Gujarat’s numbers have moved since heavy systems settled over the region in the past three weeks.
In the flood-hit south, 166 roads are currently closed, including 108 village roads in Valsad and 46 in Navsari. Pardi taluka in Valsad recorded 208 mm and Khergam in Navsari recorded 202 mm in a single spell. Twelve dams are on high alert, two more on alert and thirteen on warning status, with six reservoirs across Saurashtra, South Gujarat and the east-central belt already full. Sardar Sarovar, the state’s largest reservoir, stands at 67.74% of capacity, while the average across all reservoirs statewide is a comparatively modest 40.90%.
What it means for Gujarat residents
The consequences differ sharply by region, which is the real story here. In Valsad, Navsari and parts of Surat, residents are contending with blocked roads, waterlogging and the kind of short-term disruption that follows any heavy monsoon spell, on top of recovery still underway from the flooding earlier this month. In Kutch, the concern runs the opposite direction: farmers who sow kharif crops depend on timely, adequate rain, and a season this far behind schedule threatens both sowing windows and groundwater recharge for the rest of the year. Reservoir levels statewide look healthier than the rainfall percentages suggest only because a handful of dams in the wetter regions are carrying the average; a resident in Bhuj or Nakhatrana gets little practical benefit from a full dam in the Narmada belt.
Outlook
The India Meteorological Department expects the current heavy spell over South Gujarat to continue through July 23, and has warned fishermen to stay off the coast until then. There is no comparable rain in the immediate forecast for Kutch or North Gujarat, meaning the gap between the state’s wettest and driest districts is likely to widen before it narrows. Whether Kutch catches up later in the season, as it has in some past years, will matter more for the district’s farmers than anything happening in the flooded south right now.
Sources: Gujarat Samachar, DeshGujarat
This report was compiled and written with AI assistance from publicly reported sources, and reviewed for accuracy.