Wednesday, July 5 2006 17:19 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Ahmedabad: Heavy rains in Valsad and Navsari districts of south Gujarat have forced the administration to issue an alert and plan evacaution from low lying areas and banks of major rivers, official sources said.

"We are planning to evacuate about 4,000 people from low-lying areas of Navsari town as the Poorna river is flowing above the danger mark", Navsari District Collector R C Meena told sources.

"At about 11am, Poorna was flowing at about 25 feet which is about two feet above the danger mark'', he said adding that water from the river had inundated low-lying areas in the city.

"We are also planning to evacuate 1,000 people from Bilimora town of the district as rivers Ambika and Kaveri are flowing near the danger mark'', Meena said adding that alert has been issued to people residing in low-lying areas.

Different talukas of Navsari district have recorded 211mm to 362 mm of rains last night, sources said.

About seven inches of rain received last night in neighbouring Valsad district has flooded low-lying areas including Chipwad, Tariwad, Kashmir Nagar, Hanuman Bagda, most of which are located on banks of river Auranga passing through the district, sources said.