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Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla inspects flood-hit Kota, says ‘situation is dire’
IMD has predicted fairly widespread to widespread rainfall in east Rajasthan during the next two days.
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Saturday inspected the flood-hit areas in Sangod city in Rajasthan’s Kota district on an inflatable boat. In pictures shared by news agency ANI, he was seen sitting on the boat with other officials with neck-deep water around. Shops and equivalent establishments on either side of the road were submerged almost completely.
“The floods have caused heavy losses. The situation is dire. In Hadoti, the flood has damaged crops,” Birla, who is also the Kota-Bundi MP, was quoted as saying by ANI.
Rajasthan has been severely affected due to the rain, with many, including children, losing their lives in related incidents in the state. Kota has been witnessing flood-like situations due to the torrential rain with many parts of the city remaining heavily inundated, making people unable to leave their houses.
Rescue operations are currently underway by the district administration in waterlogged regions, and citizens are being evacuated to higher altitudes to keep them relatively safe from the rain-triggered floods.
A 15-year-old boy in the Jhalawar district died after a wall of his house collapsed on him following widespread rains over the past few days, police said. Apart from his house, two more houses also collapsed in the Borda village but no one was injured, news agency PTI reported.
On Wednesday, 11 people died in two separate rain-related incidents in the Bundi and Pali districts of Rajasthan. Of these, as many as eight deaths were those of children. Four of the eight children died in a pond in Pali.
In another incident, seven members of the family, including four minors, lost their lives after the wall of their house collapsed due to incessant rains in Bundi.
According to the latest bulletin by the India Meteorological Department (IMD), fairly widespread to widespread rainfall is very likely over east Rajasthan during the next two days. Isolated heavy to very heavy downpour is expected in the state on Sunday.
