Click to play videoBarmer/Jaipur: The usually drought prone district of Barmer in Rajasthan has been hit by flash floods.
The death toll in Rajasthan has gone up to 103 with 10 more deaths reported in Barmer district.
The Navy has been pressed into action and scuba divers are aiding the rescue operations.
Hundreds are feared missing in Kawaas, which lies on the fringe of the Mangala oil field. Out of the 39 missing in Malva village of Barmer district, navy divers have found 35 bodies. The remaining four are children who are still missing.
Locals are being evacuated at Kawas and Bharkha villages by helicopter.
The administration says food packets are being given to about 2000 people stranded on sand dunes but ground reports show relief is yet to reach them.
24 villages in the district are still submerged under water.
The Army, that has been aiding the relief operations for a few days now, has been forced to use boats and helicopters to rescue people whose homes overnight were devastated by the flash floods.
There has been a significant damage to property and at least 75,194 cattle heads have perished. Kharif crop to Rs Rs 1,300 crores has also been damaged.
Government caught napping
With their houses collapsed, livestock dead, road and rail connectivity hampered, people from marooned hamlets have found refuge on the sand dunes.
They have no food and are desperate for help.
"We will die if the administration doesn't help us fast, the cattle are all dead, swept away, we will die too. We've never seen so much water in our lives even the elderly say they've never seen so much water in the last 75 years," says Indra Ram, a resident of Kawas in Barmer.
MP of flood-hit Barmer Manvendra Singh says the rescue operation is over as most of the people have been brought to safe ground.
"They were informed well in advance that water would come. Water had come in 1990 as well in most of the places. But some people moved out, some did not. These old water sources haven't seen water for decades and the rebuilding starts, you'll have to seriously think of shifting some of the habitations," Singh said.
Putting the official figure of death toll as 53, Barmer District Magistrate Subir Kumar said, Army and Air force were doing commendable job and people stranded on sand dunes are airlifted.
The government says it has put out four choppers to carry out relief work, but aerial surveys by politicians haven't changed ground realities.
While the government has clearly been caught off-guard, those affected are getting too little, too late.
"You should all know that the last flood in Rajasthan was 30 years back. In Rajasthan this is an unlikely thing, it doesn't usually happen and it will not happen," says Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje.
Without much assurance from the Chief Minister, and with the desert's sandy soil-type, respite from the problem of water logging may get delayed.
(With inputs from Swati Vashishta and Dinesh Bohra)
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