Rain kills five in two districts of Gujarat's Saurashtra

RAJKOT: Incessant unseasonal rain accompanied by lightning and thunderstorms have left five people dead in Saurashtra’s Junagadh and Surendranagar districts in 48 hours ending Wednesday morning.
Three people including a woman and her teen daughter drowned when a chhakdo, the three-wheeler tempo, overturned in a natural drain that was in spate due to heavy unseasonal downpour in Manavadar taluka of Junagadh.
The incident happened late on Tuesday in Chudva village when the tempo carrying 12 women, got entrapped in the overflowing natural drain and overturned. The vehicle was swept away in the turbulent waters.
The deceased were identified as Shanta Rathod (60), Bharati Solanki (40) and her daughter Sanja (18).
Police said they were all returning home after completing farm labour work near Dungri as per their daily routine. KJ Maru, mamlatdar, said, “We started a search operation for these three people and engaged the fire brigade staff of the Junagadh Municipal Corporation and the Keshod municipality. We found one body at 10pm and another two at around 8am on Wednesday.” Manavadar taluka received around 100mm of rainfall in just one hour on Tuesday.
In Surendranagar, a shepherd named Chetan Bharwad died after being struck by lightning in Jasapar village on Wednesday. Bharwad’s 30 goats and sheep also died due to lightning.
In an incident reported from Naviyani village of Dasada taluka, a 27-year-old farmer Pravin Thakor met the similar fate while working on his farm on Tuesday, the police said. Most parts of Saurashtra have been pounded by unseasonal fall, an unusual phenomenon during peak summer, for the last one week.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast wet weather for several districts of Saurashtra as well as South Gujarat up to May 5.