Gujarat floods: 18 of a family killed, toll rises to 119

PALANPUR: Tragedy struck Khariya village in Gujarat’s

Banaskantha

on Wednesday when 18 bodies — all close relatives — were recovered from a river bank, taking the flood related death toll since the beginning of monsoon to 119. The toll may go up as rescue operations are on.

Villagers in Khariya watched in disbelief as the bodies were found one after another from the slush and placed in a line. The victims, all from the OBC Thakor community, included eight women and an eight-year-old girl.

Khariya was among 30 villages where an alert had been sounded after water level in the Banas river swelled due to influx of water from the dams following heavy downpour. “We suspect that they people were swept away after Tuesday midnight,” V M Patel, deputy mamlatdar, Kankrej, told TOI.

Two Army columns, three NDRF teams and a BSF team are engaged in the rescue and relief operations, and are being aided by 10 IAF choppers in Banaskantha.

The Bhavnagar-Ahmedabad highway was flooded after several villages near Dholka were inundated following release of 1.24 lakh cusecs water from the Dharoi dam. Ahmedabad collector Avantika Singh Aulakh said at least 3,858 people in 20 villages had been taken to safer locations in the district.

Three days after their village, Dabhipura in Dantiwada taluka of Banaskantha, was inundated, families returned home on Wednesday. “We have lost everything. Our grain stock and utensils have been washed away. Our houses have been severely damaged,” said one of the villagers.

On Wednesday, at least 650 people were rescued from villages of the district. Of these, 272 were airlifted to safety.

At least 500 medical professionals, including doctors, paramedics and health workers, have been pressed into service in the district to distribute chlorine tablets and ORS packets to ensure that there is no outbreak of any epidemic. Medical staff from other districts have also been deployed in Banaskantha. Though water receded in Dhanera town, one of the worst-hit in Banaskantha, people witnessed the trail of destruction left behind by the nature’s fury. Sacks of grains rendered useless were lying on the road and people struggled to remove water from their houses.