Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday expressed concern over the flood situation in Gujarat and urged the government to take all necessary steps to reduce the impact of the natural calamity.

Rain-related incidents claimed nine more lives in Gujarat, taking the death toll to 16 in two days, while another 8,500 people were relocated and rescued from flood-affected areas with rains continuing to lash some parts of the state for the fourth consecutive day on Wednesday, officials said.

In a post on X, Kharge said, "The flood situation in Gujarat is extremely worrying as several people have lost their lives and are missing. Our heartfelt condolences to the families of those who have lost their loved ones. Our thoughts are with the affected people, who are in need of urgent food and medical assistance."

"We request the Central government to ensure more NDRF & SDRF teams. We are proud of our Armed Forces and Coast Guard, who are undertaking rescue efforts. Congress leaders and workers must coordinate all possible relief efforts, in this hour of tragedy," Kharge, who is also the Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, said. Gandhi said the flood situation in Gujarat is getting more severe day by day.

"I express my deepest condolences to the families who have lost their loved ones and whose property has been damaged in this calamity. I hope that the injured recover soon," the former Congress chief said.

"An appeal is made to all Congress workers to provide all possible help to the affected people and the administration in relief and rescue work," he said.

The government is expected to take all necessary steps to reduce the impact of this calamity so that the affected people can move towards reconstruction and rehabilitation as soon as possible, Gandhi said in his post in Hindi on X.

Authorities are carrying out relief and rescue operations involving the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), its state counterpart SDRF, the Army, the Indian Air Force and the Indian Coast Guard, while Prime Minister Narendra Modi called up Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel to take stock of the situation and to ensure Centre's support in the crisis.

A total of nine persons died in rain-related incidents, such as collapse of walls and drowning, in different parts of the state on Tuesday, an official release said.

On Monday, seven persons died in similar incidents in the state.

A total of 169 persons, a majority from Kheda and Morbi district, were rescued on Tuesday, officials said. Another 8,460 were evacuated and shifted to safer places, it said.

These included around 3,000 from Navsari and around 1,000 each from Vadodara and Kheda. With this, over 15,000 people have been evacuated in two days - Monday and Tuesday.

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