DIAMONDS worth millions of dollars have been washed away in severe flooding in Surat, India’s gem-cutting and polishing hub, which is under as much as 22ft (7m) of water after more than two weeks of heavy rainfall.

About 90 per cent of the city, in the western state of Gujarat, was submerged yesterday, forcing diamond merchants on to the roofs of their houses and closing hundreds of factories.

Three days of swirling floodwaters have damaged cutting and polishing machines, which are not expected to be operational for another three weeks, resulting in an estimated loss of at least $500 million (£262 million).

Surat accounts for 55 per cent of the annual $12 billion Indian diamond export industry, according to the Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council.

Most of the factories were able to move their gems to safety but some stock is likely to have been washed away. “There is a possibility of some loss of raw material but not much compared with the damage caused to equipment,” Bakul Mehta, the chairman of the council, said. “It is very bad news for the industry but this is Nature.”

The immediate concern was to get relief to nearly 400,000 stranded workers and the wider population of more than 3 million. Army helicopters plucked people from rooftops and dropped supplies as waters overflowing from the nearby Ukai dam surged into the city. Kaushik Patel, the Revenue Minister of Gujarat, said that 10 million people were seriously affected and more than 5,200 Surat residents had been rescued from life-threatening situations.

Across the country 574 people have died in the floods that have also shut gas and petrochemical providers. The disruption to fuel supplies has closed pharmaceutical, fertiliser, iron, steel and cement-grinding plants. Economists said that the devastation could equate to 0.5 per cent of GDP.

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