Talking to Express Newsline, Bharuch District Collector B B Swain said that in addition to the 1,313 people moved from various low-lying areas of the district till late on Saturday night, 205 people and 600 animals were evacuated till Sunday evening. All told, he said, around 1,500 people and 2,700 heads of animals had been shifted to safer places in the past 24 hours.

The endangered areas, Swain said, were a couple of villages in Bharuch, Ankleshwar and Jhagadia talukas.

While maintaining that not a single untoward incident had been reported in relation to the rising waters from any part of the district, the Collector said, all the slum settlements under the Golden Bridge had gone under water. Narmada waters had also entered parts of Vamaniwada in Bharuch city, he added. The Narmada was flowing at a height of 31.25 feet -- the danger mark is 24 feet -- at Golden Bridge, Swain said. ``It is likely to go up to 32 feet by midnight, and come down by Monday morning'', he said.

This prediction is based on the assurance of the Narmada Flood Control Room, Hoshangabad (Madhya Pradesh), that less than a lakh cusecs of water were being released into the river, and not two lakhs, as had been apprehended till Sunday morning.

``Since there was no rain in Madhya Pradesh, there is no likelihood of any more water being released into the Narmada from the neighbouring State. That is why there is no more risk'', Swain said, adding that the evacuations were only a preventive measure.

In Vadodara, according to the local flood control room and officials deployed at Dabhoi taluka, the Narmada had submerged all the 109 steps at the Narmada Ma temple at Chandod, and partially affected surface transport in and around four villages.

According to local officials, the excess water had been automatically diverted into various dry nullahs in the region. That is why there had been no sudden rise in the level of the river in this area.

Meanwhile, officials of the State Road Transport and railways at Bharuch and Vadodara, claimed that waterlogging in parts of Bharuch had not affected the road and railway traffic.