Rajasthan rain leaves thousands stranded

JAIPUR: More than 75 people marooned in villages after incessant rains swamped large tracts of Pali district on Thursday were rescued by helicopters even as trains on sections of North Western Railway were disrupted due to waterlogging.

Hundreds of people were trapped in Surayata, Lambiya, Bala and Phutalia villages in the district and IAF helicopters were carrying out sorties to airlift them, officials said.

A rail section between Pali and Bomadada railway stations was submerged and passengers of Jodhpur-Bangalore train were stranded at Pali station since the morning, Pali Additional District Magistrate Kalpna Agarwal told over the phone.

Forty-one people were rescued from the villages of Surayata, 22 from Lambiya, 7 from Bala and two children from Phutalia, she said adding that all small dams and rivers were overflowing following the downpour over the past two days with Sojat recording 24 cm rainfall.

Agarwal said eight people stuck in Phutalia refused help, but two children were lifted by the rescue team.
   
Eleven of 17 jeep passengers swept away in flash floods in a stream at Dungaria-Rapat in Udaipur district had been rescued and the vehicle recovered, Superintendent of Police Govind Gupta said.
   
Asearch was on for the others and the body of one person was recovered and he has been identified, he added.
   
A wildlife department official said scores of deer were feared trapped or drowned in a forest in Bhopalgarh block of Jodhpur district due to the inundation.