Rains lash Gujarat, at least 11 dead

NEW DELHI: Nearly 30,000 people were evacuated and 15 killed in Gujarat after incessant rains battered the state flooding large tracts while 11 perished in Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh in heavy downpours even as the situation in flood-ravaged Maharashtra eased on Sunday.

In Jharkhand, torrential showers in Jamshedpur inundated low-lying areas affecting over 1,000 families in the steel city.

Rains pounded Gujarat for the past three days throwing road and rail traffic haywire as authorities evacuated nearly 30,000 people from low-lying areas in south and central parts of the state. With rains claiming 15 lives in the past two days, the death toll due to monsoon fury in the state rose to 49.

An alert was sounded in scores of villages on the banks of Narmada, which was in spate, in Bharuch district. Additional district collector JP Solanki said that a total of 7,192 people were evacuated from some 17 villages in the district.

Vehicles on the National Highway-8 in Gujarat crawled due to water-logging in areas near Surat, Kheda and Anand. The rains disrupted rail traffic with several Mumbai and Delhi-bound trains from Gujarat running several hours late, railway officials said. With water submerging tracks, hundreds of passengers were left stranded as four trains running between Mumbai and Ahmedabad were cancelled and many rescheduled.

With the ferocity of rains lessening in western Maharashtra, the situation in flood-hit Pune, Kolhapur, Satara and Sangli eased noticeably. Several low-lying areas in these districts were inundated following heavy rains in catchment areas forcing the administration to alert people living near river beds.

The south-west monsoon gathered steam in Rajasthan with the desert state receiving heavy to moderate showers since Saturday evening.

Bolts of lightning killed three people in Uttar Pradesh pushing the state-wide death count since the advent of the rainy season to 153. Heavy rains, accompanied by high velocity winds, lashed Uttar Pradesh as major rivers rose menacingly submerging several villages.

In Jharkhand, torrential showers since Thursday forced Tata Zoological Park authorities in the steel city to shift animal and birds to dry zones.