Human toll in the floods and relentless rain across the country reached almost 200 by Wednesday even as thousands in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Assam, Odisha, West Bengal, Jharkhand and elsewhere were forced out of their homes into temporary shelters.
A horrible tragedy unfurled as waters receded in Banaskantha district of Gujarat, as bodies of 17 members of a single family were recovered from the banks of Banas river in Khariya village.
Rescue workers found a total of 25 dead bodies in the area, and fear that more could be found in the coming days as water recedes. The area was completely inundated when the State authorities released 1.5 lakh cusec water from Dantiwada dam to the Banas river.
On Wednesday, the Indian Air Force and Army intensified their rescue operations, mobilising a dozen choppers and motorboats to reach interior villages where thousands of people are still stranded in floodwaters. “More than 650 people were rescued by the agencies on Wednesday, including 272 people air lifted through Air Force choppers,” Principal Secretary (Revenue) Pankaj Kumar said.
According to latest estimates, at least 111 people have lost lives in Gujarat since June 1.
Over 50,000 people have been relocated to safer places, most of them residents of the worst affected districts in northern Gujarat, Banaskantha and Patan.
In Rajasthan’s Pali district where rains continued to lash the remote areas on Wednesday, 26 of the 60 dams were overflowing and several far-off villages were still cut off.
‘PM ignored Assam’
Authorities said the death toll in floods and rain in Assam was 77 as of Wednesday, as situation noticeably improved in the State.
A seven-member inter-ministerial team from the Centre visited Assam on Wednesday to take stock of the situation, even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi came under attack from opposition parties and activists for ignoring Assam’s flood situation.
