Rajasthan: Eight people killed in rain-related incidents

New Delhi/Jaipur:Eight people were killed in Rajasthan, roads were blocked and normal life was brought to a halt in different parts of the country on Monday as rain wreaked havoc.

Heavy rainfall has created a flood-like situation in Karauli and Hindaun of Rajasthan, where 22 people died during the past two days in rain-related incidents while overflowing dams and rivers continued to paralyse daily life.

Disaster relief forces have rescued about 100 people in Karauli and Hindaun.

Schools remained shut in Jaipur, Sawai Madhopur, Bharatpur, Dausa and Karauli districts following predictions of heavy rainfall.

“A flood-like situation has risen in Karauli and Hindaun town and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) teams have evacuated about 100 people,” disaster management department joint secretary Bhagwat Singh said.

The bodies of five people who were swept away in Jaipur’s Kanota dam on Sunday evening were pulled out. However, two more people drowned while taking a bath in the Galta Kund.

A 30-year-old man in Dausa was also killed on Monday after being washed away in the Moroli dam, officials said.

In Bengaluru, peak-hour traffic jams and inundated roads in several areas, especially in the northern and eastern parts, particularly inconvenienced officegoers and schoolchildren.

Areas such as Outer Ring Road between Nagawara Junction and Hebbal, and Veerasandra on the Electronics City Road, parts of Hosur Road and Bannerghatta Road, were severely affected, official sources said.

Heavy waterlogging was witnessed in Marathalli, Karthik Nagar and Kalyan Nagar, Puttenahalli, Varthur Kodi, Panathur Main Road, among others.

Some houses and residential layouts in low-lying areas were affected by waterlogging and water gushing into the premises, officials said. Several underpasses were also inundated.

Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar, who is also in-charge of Bengaluru development, visited some of the rain-affected areas to assess the situation.

Delhi’s Safdarjung observatory, the city’s primary weather station, recorded 12.9 mm rainfall. The Lodi Road observatory recorded 13.6 mm rainfall, Palam 10.5 mm and Najafgarh 30 mm between 11.30 am and 5.30 pm, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.