Flood fury in Raj: Disaster proves to be ‘deadliest’ claiming 59 lives

The recent floods in the state have claimed  59 lives, informed home minister Gulab Chand Kataria during the monthly review meeting of disaster management and relief department on Wednesday.

The minister said all the deaths happened in Barmer, Jalore, Pali and Sirohi districts, which have been the worst affected as 1,290 villages faced serious flood situation.

Kataria said 19 people drowned in the floods while other 40 casualties included people who were swept away in raging floodwaters, electrocuted or died in house collapse.

The state government has released Rs 1.68 crore as financial aid for 42 eligible of them. 

Kataria said that revolving fund of Rs 10-10 lakh has been issued for each flood-affected district in the state and Rs 3,800 being provided to each of those who lost their house due to floods.

The minister informed that Rs 4 lakh has been given as financial aid to family members of 15 deceased.

Meanwhile, with the monsoon slowing down, the state has got a respite from downpour for the last couple of days. 

In the past 24 hours, spell of heavy rainfall has been taken over by the light showers at a few places while weather remained almost dry in the Jodhpur division, the most flood affected region

Southwestern monsoon has weakened in the state. As per the local MeT office report, light to moderate rainfall occurred at few places in Jaipur, Kota, Bharatpur and Udaipur divisions. 

Few isolated places in Ajmer, Bikaner division. Behror, Kotkasim, Bansur, Tapukada, Nimrana and Mandwar in Alwar, Tara Nagar, Sardar Shahar in Churu and Mount Abu received 40mm to 10 mm rainfall on Wednesday.

Weathermen have not changed outlook for the next 24 hours. According to the meteorological department, there is no possibility of rain for next three or four days in the most of the parts of the state and weather is expected to be dry on Thursday.

Relief by govt staff

Government officers and employees in Sirohi including three MLAs and district collector Sandesh Nayak have come ahead to contribute in chief minister relief fund. MLAs of the district have also made an announcement to donate their month’s salary for the relief fund.