In this aerial view taken from a helicopter Indian villagers and their cattle use a small hillock to shelter from floodwaters in an unidentified location between Baroda and Ahmedabad, 02 July 2005. (Xinhua/AFP photo)

In this aerial view taken from a helicopter an Indian freight train lies half submerged by floodwaters in an unidentified location between Baroda and Ahmedabad, 02 July 2005. (Xinhua/AFP photo)

    NEW DELHI, July 2 (Xinhuanet) -- The death toll due to torrential rains in Gujarat, India's second most industrialized state, reached 123 on Saturday, while more than 250,000 people have been evacuated.

    "The state government has appealed to the center to send more army personnel," Guajrat Government spokesperson Kaushik Patel said on Saturday.

    Speed boats have also been pressed into service, and are being used in rescue operations, Kaushik Patel added.

    The Army, Navy and Air Force personnel are working round-the-clock to provide help to the flood-affected people

    The situation may worsen as most of the rivers and dams are overflowing, and the meteorological department has forecast heavy rains Saturday and Sunday.

    Indian Home Minister Shivraj Patil conducted an aerial survey of some parts of the state capital Ahmedabad Saturday morning.

    Patil, however, had to cut short his survey of the worst-affected areas of Vadodara and other districts in the state due tobad weather.

    The administration is using helicopters to drop food packets and water pouches in the flood-affected regions of the state which is being battered with heavy rains for the past week.

    A report from Kheda district, one of the worst-affected, said that army and state reserve police personnel were rescuing 300 students from the hostel of a school as its premises got flooded. Enditem