Jaipur: Heavy downpour created havoc across the state Wednesday, flooding many districts, raising water levels in rivers to cross danger marks, and inundating cities’ roads that threw life out of gear. Fearing mishaps, state govt declared Thursday as a holiday for schools in 17 districts. A fiery spell that lashed Jaipur from 7.30am and continued until about 12.30pm brought traffic down to a crawl as most parts of the city witnessed severe waterlogging, including areas outside the residences of chief secretary Sudhansh Pant and DGP Rajiv Kumar Sharma.Incessant rains paralysed most areas of Kota, Tonk, and Sawai Madhopur districts, and cut off road link between Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. In Karauli, Sawai Madhopur and Dholpur, the Chambal River flowed above the danger mark, while in Kota, the water level of the Parvati River crossed the mark that is likely to result in loss of lives, properties and crops.The disaster management department said three gates of the Bisalpur Dam in Tonk and two gates of the Kota Barrage have been opened to release 18,030 and 19,236 cusecs of water, respectively.Forecasting heavy rain for Thursday, the Met department issued orange alerts for 6 districts and yellow for 12 districts.It predicted heavy to very heavy rainfall in parts of Ajmer, Jaipur, Bikaner, and Jodhpur divisions for Thursday and moderate to heavy rainfall in Kota, Udaipur, and Bharatpur divisions. The intensity of the rainfall is expected to subside in the southeastern parts of the state by Aug 1. The Met also cautioned a strong possibility of continued heavy rainfall in many parts of the Shekhawati region and Bikaner division on Aug 1 which is expected to recede across the state by Aug 2.Several locations in Sawai Madhopur, Baran, and Tonk recorded over 150mm of rain, while Jaipur recorded 32.3mm. The Shahpura in Jaipur received the highest rainfall of 155mm. The Augad bridge on NH-552 near Bodal, about 12km from Sawai Madhopur district headquarters, was washed away cutting off the vital road link between Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.
