Intense monsoon rains brought normal life to a standstill in several parts of eastern and central Rajasthan, flooding out roads, rail tracks, low-lying residential areas and hospitals and claiming seven lives since Sunday night. More showers are expected to lash around a dozen districts on Tuesday.
A seven-year-old boy was swept away on Monday in the gushing waters of an overflowing drain in the Murlipura area in state capital Jaipur, where several areas reeled from waterlogging. Three deaths due to drowning were reported from Ajmer, two from Nagaur and one from Tonk.
Secretary of disaster management and relief department P C Kishan said that very heavy rainfall occurred in areas of Sirohi, Ajmer, Pali and Karauli districts but there was no flood-like situation. Heavy rainfall was recorded in 10 districts, including Jaipur, Jalore, Bharatpur, Udaipur and Ajmer. He said that rescue teams have been put on alert. Mount Abu in Sirohi recorded the highest 231 mm rain during the last 24 hours ending Monday morning.
Several places in Sirohi, Ajmer, Pali, Karauli, Jaipur, Jalore, Tonk and Sikar faced water logging. Rainwater also entered wards of the state's largest government sector hospital in Jaipur- Sawai Man Singh Hospital- and Ajmer's JLN hospital.
Railway tracks were inundated at Ajmer railway station. North Western Railway cancelled 18 trains and partially cancelled seven trains due to water logging. The affected trains connect destinations like Sriganganagar, Bikaner, Jaisalmer, Ajmer and Barmer with Rishikesh, Jammu Tawi, Chandigarh, Amritsar, Bathinda and Bhiwani.
The Met department has issued a yellow alert for heavy rainfall in Alwar, Banswara, Baran, Bharatpur, Dausa, Dholpur, Dungarpur, Karauli, Sawai Madhopur, Sirohi, and Udaipur on Monday and in Baran, Bundi, Dungarpur, Jhalawar, Kota, Pratapgarh and Sawai Madhopur on Tuesday. The state has 33 districts. The IMD uses four colour codes for weather warnings - green (no action needed), yellow (watch and stay updated), orange (be prepared) and red (take action).
According to the Met department, there was heavy rainfall in Abu Road in Sirohi (160 mm), Ajmer (137 mm), Baniwas in Pali (128 mm) and Masalpur in Karauli (120 mm). Sambhar in Jaipur, Bagoda in Jalore (both 99 mm) and Tonk (98) till 8.30 am on Monday. Till evening, Sirohi recorded the highest of 62.5 mm rain followed by Dabok (Udaipur) where 61.9 mm rainfall occurred.
In Jaipur, many areas faced traffic congestion due to waterlogging and the city received 51.8 mm rain till Monday evening. Rishi, 7, was swept away in a drain in Jaipur's Murlipura area on Monday when he tried to retrieve his slipper. The body was recovered and shifted to Kanwatia Hospital for postmortem. Jaipur Collector Prakash Rajpurohit inspected areas facing waterlogging including Sikar Road, Dehar's Balaji, Niwaru Road, Jhotwara, Panchyawala, Sirsi Road, Girdharipura, Ajmer Road, Jawahar Nagar and walled city.
The Collector directed the officers of Jaipur Heritage Municipal Corporation, Jaipur Greater Municipal Corporation and Jaipur Development Authority to ensure immediate redressal of the problem of drainage in waterlogged areas as well as to provide relief to the public. In Ajmer, an officer of the Rajasthan Public Service Commission (RPSC) drowned in a flooded drain in the Alwar Gate police station area last night. SHO Shyam Singh said that the body of Dilip Singh was recovered on Monday.
A 40-year-old woman Gulabi Devi and her daughter Meena (15) accidentally fell into a pond in the Vijay Nagar area in Ajmer district on Monday. The bodies were handed over to family members after postmortem. The police said that two men identified as Manish and Ravi (aged around 30 years) drowned in a farm pond in the Gacchipura area of Nagaur district on Sunday evening.
The postmortem was conducted on Monday and the bodies were handed over. In Tonk district, a 17-year-old boy Ayan Khan drowned in a pond while taking a bath on Monday evening. A team of SDRF recovered the body and shifted it to the mortuary of a local hospital. Water entered houses in low-lying areas in Tonk.
Superintendent of SMS Hospital Achal Sharma said that rainwater entered some of the wards of the hospital. He said that patients were shifted to other wards and the water was cleared. In Ajmer also, rainwater entered JLN hospital, causing a lot of problems for the patients and hospital staff.
