4 killed, hundreds rescued in Rajasthan’s flood-hit Hadoti region

At least four people were killed and hundreds rescued in three districts of Rajasthan’s flood-hit Hadoti region after heavy rains, officials said on Friday.

Kaithoon town of Kota district, Chhabra in Baran district and Bundi were the worst hit by the flood. Kaithoon was under five to 10 feet water as the town turned into island following heavy rains. The districts of Bundi, Baran, Jhalawar and Kota come under the Hadoti region.

“An average of three to four-inch of rainfall has been recorded in Kota and Baran districts of Hadoti region, which has created a flood-like situation in Kaithoon and Chhabra areas,” Kota’s divisional commissioner LN Soni said.

One column each of SDRF and the army and two columns each of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) have been deployed in Kota and Baran districts for rescue operations, said Soni.

“Three-hundred and fifty people were rescued in Kaithoon and around 150 in Chhabra area of Baran by rescue teams of the army and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF). Rescued people have been sent to the relief centres in Kota and Baran where an arrangement for food and drinking water has been made,” he said.

At least 36 passengers of a private bus, which was stranded in the gushing waters of a rivulet in Kawai region of Baran district on Thursday night, were rescued on Friday morning.

The weather department has forecast heavy rains in the Hadoti region in the next 24 hours.

Lok Sabha Speaker and member of Parliament from Kota Om Birla and MLA from Ladpura Kalpana Devi visited Kaithoon on Friday and instructed officials to extend all help to flood-affected residents in the region.

Kota’s district collector Muktanand Agarwal, deputy superintendent of police Paras Jain and others had inspected the flood-hit areas of Kaithoon on Thursday.

A 35-year-old woman and her seven-year-old son were washed away on the small bridge over the Chambal River in Nayapura area of Kota on Thursday. They were on their way to the Kota bus stand to go to Jaipur for Rakshabandhan.

Two teenaged girls, each in Sangod region of Kota and Shahabad area of Baran district, also drowned in overflowing tributaries of Chambal river.

Kota municipal corporation’s chief fire officer Devendra Gautam said three men were rescued from the debris of an old house which collapsed in the walled area of the city on Thursday.

The Chambal River and its tributaries including Kali Sindh, Parvati, Parvan, Aahu and others are overflowing in Hadoti region.

Around 16 gates of Kota barrage on Chambal river were opened on Friday morning to discharge 1.13 lakh cusecs of water after which an alert was sounded in the low-lying areas of the downstream of Chambal river.

District collectors of Kota, Baran, Bundi and Jhalawar have ordered a holiday in schools and colleges.