Heavy rain threw normal life out of gear across Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday, causing floods and disrupting traffic at various places, including the Jammu-Pathankot national highway, and forcing authorities to cancel class 10 and 11 exams that were to be held on Monday.
The weather also forced Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to cancel his visit to Chishoti village in Kishtwar district’s Paddar area, where 65 people, mostly Machail Mata pilgrims, were killed following a cloudburst on August 14.
After visiting the cloudburst victims hospitalised at the Government Medical College Hospital at Jammu, Singh told media persons that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was very concerned about the situation.
The Defence Minister, who was accompanied by Union minister and Udhampur MP Jitendra Singh and J&K Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, said, “We are now going to Raj Bhavan, where we will talk to the (affected) people through videoconferencing.”
Meanwhile, traffic on National Highway-44 between Kathua and Samba was disrupted following extensive damage to a bridge due to a flash flood in Sehar Khad.
Officials said that all heavy vehicles, including trucks and passenger buses, were plying only up to Kathua town from the Punjab side and up to Samba from the Jammu side. A few light vehicles were, however, plying between Kathua and Jammu via a small alternate bridge in a border area in the district.
Though the Jammu-Srinagar national highway was open for vehicular traffic despite rain and landslides at some places, the Mughal Road connecting Jammu province’s Poonch district with Shopian in Kashmir and the Sintha road connecting Doda and Kishtwar districts with South Kashmir were closed owing to slippery road conditions and landslides at different locations.
Story continues below this ad
During the past 24 hours, Jammu City recorded 190.4 mm of rainfall, the second-highest for the period in a century. The highest — 228.6 mm — was recorded on August 5, 1926.
Udhampur recorded 144.2 mm of rainfall, followed by 115 mm in Reasi district’s Katra town, which acts as the base camp for the pilgrims visiting the Vaishno Devi shrine.
The heavy rain led to the overflowing of streams and nullahs across the province, with authorities issuing advisories asking people to stay away from water bodies and landslide-prone areas.
Around 8 am, the Basantar in Samba district was flowing at six feet, nearly two feet above the prescribed alert level, officials said, adding that the Ujh river in Kathua was also flowing over the danger mark.
Story continues below this ad
The heavy downpour also led to the inundation of roads at several low-lying areas of Jammu, with flood waters entering houses and commercial establishments in Janipur, Roop Nagar, Talab Tilloo, Jewel Chowk, New Plot and Sanjay Nagar. The boundary walls of several houses were also damaged, while nearly a dozen vehicles were swept away in the flash flood, officials said.
Hostel evacuated
Nearly 50 students of the Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine (IIIM) in Jammu city were evacuated to safety in a joint operation by the State Disaster Response Force and police after the ground floor of their hostel complex got submerged in the flood here, officials said.
The State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and police used boats to reach the students in more than seven-foot-deep water, which flew into the hostel complex from a nearby canal. The rescue operation continued for more than five hours, and all the trapped students were evacuated to safety.
Director, IIIM, an autonomous body under the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Dr Zabeer Ahmed, said the institute has made arrangements for the students’ safe stay.
Story continues below this ad
With Meteorological Department having issued an orange alert for Jammu province, forecasting light to moderate rainfall with heavy showers in the districts of Anantnag, Kulgam, Doda, Jammu, Kathua, Samba, Kishtwar, Reasi, Ramban, Rajouri, Poonch, and Udhampur until August 26, the J&K State Board of School Education has cancelled class 10 and 11 exams to be held in the Union Territories of J&K and Ladakh on Monday.
The School Education Department also ordered the closure of all government and private schools in Jammu province on Monday.
