Jammu/Srinagar: After record rains wreaked havoc in Jammu and Kashmir over the past two days, the death toll in related incidents rose to 41, most of them victims of the landslide on a Vaishno Devi pilgrimage route, while there was some let-up in the showers on Wednesday, allowing relief efforts to pick up pace.
The water level in the swollen rivers across Jammu showed signs of receding from 11 AM, but the flood alert mark was breached by the Jhelum in Anantnag and Srinagar and water entered several residential and commercial areas.
Massive damage has been reported to public infrastructure, including several key bridges, private houses and commercial establishments, due to overflowing of water bodies and flash floods across the Union Territory, officials said, adding more than 10,000 people have been evacuated from low-lying flooded areas.
As torrential rains disrupted normal life, Education Minister Sakina Itoo announced that all educational institutes will remain closed across Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday in view of the inclement weather.
The Northern Railways ordered the cancellation of 58 trains to and from Jammu and Katra stations, while 64 trains were short-terminated or short-originated at various stations in the division.
Rail traffic, which was briefly restored on Wednesday morning with six trains departing from Jammu after a day-long suspension, has again been halted due to flash floods and heavy soil erosion in the Chakki river area, the officials said.
With the rain stopping in some areas, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah rushed to Jammu from Srinagar to personally review the situation in the region.
Officials said that the phone and network services were restored across all networks on Wednesday, 24 hours after the damage to optical fibres caused outages in the Union territory
The death toll in the Vaishno Devi landslide has gone up to 34 with rescuers pulling out more bodies from under the debris, the officials said, a day after the disaster struck the route to the hilltop shrine in Jammu and Kashmir’s Reasi district.
At least 20 people were injured in the landslide triggered by incessant heavy rain and are undergoing treatment in different hospitals, the officials said, adding the landslide struck near the Inderprastha Bhojnalaya at Ardhkuwari, about halfway along the winding 12-km trek from Katra to the shrine, at around 3 PM on Tuesday.
With more people feared trapped, rescue teams are continuing to dig through the mounds of rubble to look for survivors.
The pilgrimage to the shrine remained suspended for the second day. While the yatra had been stopped on the Himkoti trek route since morning on Tuesday, it was going on on the old route till afternoon when authorities decided to suspend it as a precautionary measure.
Jammu has recorded 380 mm of rainfall in the past 24 hours ending at 8.30 AM on Wednesday, which is the highest for a 24-hour period since 1910 when the observatory was set up in the winter capital.
Four people, including three women, lost their lives in Doda district on Tuesday, while two bodies were found on Tuesday, including that of a BSF jawan in Pragwal. The other body found in Akhnoor is yet to be identified. Body of an irrigation department employee was found in Lakhanpur along the border of Punjab.
Heavy rains were also experienced in the Kashmir valley overnight, where the main Jhelum river has crossed the flood alert mark at Sangam in Anantnag district and at Ram Munshi Bagh in Srinagar this morning.
In Srinagar, water entered the residential areas in Kursu, Rajbagh, Bemina and Sekidafar, while most places in main Anantnag town also saw flood waters enter residential as well as commercial areas, leaving markets submerged, they said.
The waters also entered the district court complex in Anantnag district in south Kashmir, following which the district judge and other staff had to be evacuated by the SDRF personnel using a boat, the officials said.
The district administrations and police in Anantnag, Kulgam and Srinagar had to evacuate people living in low-lying areas to safety.
The Jammu-Srinagar national highway remained closed for vehicular traffic, along with over a dozen other roads struck by landslides over the past couple of days.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said his prayers are for everyone’s safety and well-being.
“The loss of lives due to a landslide on the route to the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Temple is saddening. My thoughts are with the bereaved families. May the injured recover at the earliest. The administration is assisting all those affected,” he said in a post on X.
Chief Minister Abdullah said he has briefed Prime Minister Modi on the situation arising from heavy rains and flooding in the Jammu region and expressed gratitude for his assurance of continued assistance to the people of Jammu and Kashmir.
The chief minister said they were slightly relieved as the rain had stopped on Wednesday.
“As compared to yesterday, we have got slight relief today (Wednesday) with the fact that the rains have stopped. Water is slowly receding in low-lying areas,” he said.
Officials said said a flash flood washed away 10 residential houses and a bridge in the remote Margi area of Kishtwar district, but there was no immediate report of any casualties.
The rains continued non-stop in most parts of the Jammu region over the past 24 hours with almost all water bodies, including Tawi, Chenab, Ujh, Ravi and Basanter, flowing several feet above the danger mark, the officials said.
However, the water level in most of the water bodies started receding after the rains stopped at around 11 AM, though the weather remained cloudy.
On August 14, a cloudburst triggered flash floods in Chisoti, the last motorable village en route to the Machail Mata shrine, in Kishtwar district leaving behind a trail of death and destruction. At least 65 people, mostly pilgrims, were killed and more than 100 were injured, while 32 are still missing. (PTI)
