Vadodara: Gujarat continued to reel under inclement weather with heavy rain and gusty winds pounding large parts of Saurashtra, central Gujarat and south Gujarat on Wednesday with the coastal Khambhat town of Anand recording the maximum 102 mm.Life came to a standstill in major parts of Anand district due to downpours that restarted after after a brief halt on Tuesday. Between 6am and 2pm, major parts of the district, especially low-lying areas, remained waterlogged.In Anand town, commuters waded through knee-deep waters, especially near Bhalej overbridge and Lotiya Bhagol.In all, 161 talukas out of the 253 talukas in the state recorded rainfall with 52 recorded more than 25mm precipitation.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) bulletin stated that the wet weather is expected to persist till May 14.On Thursday, severe thunderstorms with lightning and gusts upto 60- 70 kmph accompanied heavy to very heavy rain are forecast at isolated places of Amreli, Bhavnagar, Ahmedabad, Anand, Valsad,Daman, Dadra Nagar Haveli. Rainfall and high-velocity winds are also forecast for Banaskantha, Patan, Mehsana, Sabarkantha, Gandhinagar, Aravalli, Kheda, Panchmahal, Dahod, Mahisagar, Vadodara, Chhota Udepur, Narmada, Bharuch, Surat, Dang, Navsari and Tapi, Surendranagar, Rajkot, Jamnagar, Porbandar, Junagadh, Morbi, Dwarka, Gir Somnath, Botad, Kutch and in Diu over the next five days.The heavy rainfall during the conventional searing month of May is driven by a cyclonic circulation over northwest Madhya Pradesh (0.9 km altitude), a trough from the northeast Arabian Sea to west Madhya Pradesh via Gujarat (3.1–5.8 km altitude), and an east-west trough from southwest Rajasthan to north Jharkhand affecting parts of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.At least 21 people have died in rain-related incidents including lightning strikes, house and wall collapses and trees falling since Monday.Ahmedabad also woke up to heavy rainfall on Thursday, leaving several roads and areas waterlogged.