J&K Cloudburst in Reasi Kills 10 Days After Flash Floods in Kishtwar
Srinagar: A family of seven was among 10 civilians who lost their lives, while at least five more are missing as rains continued to batter parts of Jammu and Kashmir overnight on August 30, resulting in landslides and flash floods triggered by suspected cloudbursts.
Torrential rains and cloudbursts this week have caused widespread destruction in the Union territory, killing at least 50 civilians, while dozens of residential houses, commercial establishments, roads, religious places, farmlands and orchards have been damaged.
In the latest incident on Saturday (August 30), a family of seven, including five children, were buried alive under the rubble as their residential house in the hilly Badder village of Jammu Division collapsed under a massive landslide in the wee hours of Saturday.
Heavy rainfall was reported in parts of Jammu and Kashmir last night which is believed to have triggered the landslide in Karara locality, a cluster of houses scattered on a steep hill in Reasi district, killing all its seven inhabitants.
The deceased have been identified as Nazir Ahmad, 38, his wife Wazira Begum, and their five children. Khurshied Ahmed, member of legislative assembly from Mahore constituency of Jammu, where the affected village is located, said that the family was sleeping when the tragedy struck.
“There was a cloudburst in the higher reaches which caused the landslide. It was a poor family. The road to the village is cut off and locals retrieved the body from the debris. No one from the family has survived,” he said.
At least more three people were killed while five are missing after flash floods triggered by a suspected cloudburst washed away a residential structure in Ramban district of Jammu on Saturday, officials said.
A district administration official said that the incident took place in Rajgarh tehsil of Ramban when a residential structure was washed away in flash floods and landslide reportedly triggered by a cloudburst on Saturday morning.
A video which circulated on social media shows a team of J&K police and State Disaster Response Force personnel seeking information from the locals about the design and the location of the residential structure which seems to have been swept away by the flash floods.
“We recovered three bodies from here,” a local who is not seen in the video can be heard briefing the officials, pointing to a mound of debris on the ground.
He adds: “One of the rooms is down there. You can see some clothes and mattresses there”.
Five more persons are believed to be missing following the incident, “Rescue operations are underway in the village to locate them,” he said.
A prolonged spell of torrential rains accompanied by multiple cloudbursts have triggered flash floods in several parts of the Union territory but Jammu division has been the worst hit where a landslide earlier this week near the Vaishno Devi shrine in Reasi district killed at least 32 people, mostly pilgrims.
Bad weather has washed away roads and highways at many places in J&K with the Srinagar-Jammu national highway, the only all-weather road connecting Kashmir with the rest of the country, closed for the fifth consecutive day on Saturday.
However, officials said that the traffic has been diverted towards the Mughal Road, an alternative but narrow surface connectivity for Kashmir with the rest of the country.
With the harvesting season on for the horticulture sector, hundreds of fruit laden trucks have been stranded on the Srinagar-Jammu highway, prompting the trade unions to urge the government to intervene and prevent losses to farmers.
“The government should allow the fruit laden trucks stranded on the highway to move forward towards their destinations on priority so that perishable fruits of the valley could be transported to their destinations,” Basheer Ahmad Basheer, president of Kashmir Valley Fruit Growers Cum Dealers Union, the largest conglomerate of fruit traders and growers in the region, said.
Relentless and heavy rains since early this week, punctuated by brief spells of cloudy weather, have swollen the rivers and tributaries in many parts of Jammu and Kashmir and inundated several residential and commercial areas.
Earlier on Tuesday, cloudbursts in the remote Warwan area of Kishtwar district had triggered flash floods which caused widespread destruction in Gumri and Margi villages. Four days after the tragedies struck, the administration is yet to provide relief to the affected residents of the twin villages comprising some 400 families, locals alleged.
“Almost all the houses were inundated which has left us without food and shelter. We have been sleeping under tarpaulin sheets. Only the local officials are here but even they are helpless because the road is closed,” said Shabir Ahmad, who teaches at a government run school in Margi village.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has on Saturday warned of moderate to heavy rains with brief spells of intense showers in many districts of the worst-hit Jammu division in the next 12 hours.
The department said that heavy rainfall and intense showers may occur intermittently in Jammu, Kathua, Rajouri, Reasi, Doda, Samba and Udhampur districts which could trigger flash floods and landslides at hilly locations.
Earlier, the J&K administration had warned people living in landslide-prone and low-lying areas to remain alert and avoid venturing near rivers, water-streams and flood channels amid inclement weather.
