Jaipur: Heavy rains have wreaked havoc across several places in Rajasthan with at least 19 people losing their lives in separate incidents of drowning and house collapse in the last 24 hours
The latest among the tragedies took place in Kanota Dam in Jaipur where five youths drowned on Sunday. Officials told ETV Bharat that five youths were swept away when they stepped into Kanota Dam for a bath. Their bodies were eventually fished out late in the day.
"Six youths had come for a picnic at Kanota Dam. All of them stepped into the water for a bath and eventually, five of them were swept away. One of them managed to get out," said Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Mukesh Chaudhary.
The State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and civil defence teams launched a search operation and managed to recover the bodies. The deceased were identified as Harsha Nagora (20), Vinay Meena (22), Vivek Mahor (22), Ajay Mahor (22) and Harkesh Meena (24), police said. Three of the deceased youths are said to be residents of Shastri Nagar, while one was from Dadi Ka Phatak and one from Nai Ki Thadi.
Seven Of Same Family Drown In Bharatpur
In another tragedy on Sunday, seven people of one family drowned while bathing in a river in Bharatpur, officials said. A rescue operation is underway to trace the missing people, they said.
Eight youths from Srinagar village were taking a bath in the Banganga River in Bharatpur. One after the other, they slipped into deep water and eventually drowned, they said.
The deceased were identified as Pawan Singh Jatav, 20, Saurabh Jatav, 18, Gaurav Jatav, 16, Bhupendra Jatav, 18, Shantanu Jatav, 18, Lakkhi Jatav, 20, and Pawan Jatav, 22.
Schools Shut In 4 Districts Today
As rains wreaked havoc in Rajasthan, Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma held a meeting with senior officials here to take stock of the situation while all schools in four severely affected districts were directed to be shut on Monday.
In the meeting at the Chief Minister's Office here on Sunday, Sharma asked the officials to expedite relief work in the affected areas and take necessary precautionary measures based on the weather department's forecast for the coming days.
Amid the warning of heavy rains in some parts of the state, the district collectors of Sawai Madhopur, Karauli, Bharatpur, and Dausa have directed all government and private schools to be shut on Monday. The chief minister said joint teams of the concerned departments should be formed to expedite the relief and rescue work in the affected areas.
He asked the officials to visit waterlogged areas and ensure the arrangement of water drainage and basic facilities like drinking water, food and medicines. He said water and electricity supply in the affected areas should be restored at the earliest.
More Tragedies
In Jhunjhunu, three people drowned while bathing in a pond in Mehrana village. All of them were residents of Sanwlod village. The deceased were identified as Anuj Meghwal, 22, Bulkesh, 21, and Anuj Kumar, 20, police said. In Karauli, a father-son duo, Zakir Khan, 40, and Ziya Khan, 12, were killed on Sunday after getting trapped under the debris of their house that collapsed due to heavy rain, police said.
They were sleeping in their house in Karauli city's Dolikhar Mohalla when the incident occurred, they said. "Two people died in the incident and two were injured," Principal Medical Officer of Karauli District Hospital, Dr Ramkesh Meena told reporters. In another incident, a 19-year-old nursing student died after he slipped and fell into the Kedia stream in Banswara and was swept away by the strong current of the water. Vikas Sharma's body was retrieved by an SDRF team, officials said.
In Sawai Madhopur, a 35-year-old man identified as Gajju Rajput drowned in a pond. Prima facie, the man was under the influence of alcohol. He slipped and fell into the water body, police said. Karauli district, situated around 200 km from the state capital Jaipur, is among the worst affected.
"There is a flood-like situation in Hinduan and Karauli where 15-inch rainfall was recorded from Saturday night till Sunday afternoon," Anand Kumar, Additional Chief Secretary, Disaster Management and Relief Department told PTI. Officials in Karauli have urged people to avoid areas near rivers during the high stream as around 8,000 cusecs of water have been released from the Panchana Dam in the district.
Parwati, Gambhir and Banganga rivers are overflowing and teams from the civil defence and State Disaster Response Force are deployed to rescue vulnerable people, they said.
MeT Predicts More Rains
The Meteorological Department has warned of heavy rainfall at isolated places in eastern Rajasthan and predicted monsoon to remain active for the next five to six days in several parts of Jaipur, Bharatpur, Ajmer and Kota divisions. Moderate to heavy rainfall is likely to occur at several places in the state during the period.
According to the Meteorological Centre in Jaipur, from 8.30 am to 5.30 pm on Sunday, 63.2 mm of rainfall was recorded in Jaipur, 31.5 mm in Karauli, 14.2 mm in Alwar, 9 mm each in Mount Abu and Sikar, and 6.5 mm in Fatehpur.
Emergency Contacts
If you are facing problems during rain, you can seek help from the administration on these numbers:
- Jaipur Collectorate: 0141-2204475, 0141-2204476 and Police Control - 100, 112.
- Ghatgate flood control room operated by Jaipur Municipal Corporation: 8279179063
- Amer flood control room: 8279179060
- VKI flood control room: 8764880070
- Malviya Nagar flood control room: 8764880030
- Mansarovar flood control room: 8764880060
- Banipark flood control room (behind Kanwatia Hospital): 8279179150.
- Also, the general public can contact the flood control room operated by Jaipur Development Authority in Banipark on telephone number- 0141-2203518.
