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After three days of incessant rain, the Omar Abdullah government in Jammu and Kashmir has sounded a flood alert in the state and asked the authorities to be prepared to meet any eventuality. Meanwhile, the death toll due to foods and landslides have reached 12.
Several villages have been inundated by floods in south Kashmir districts of Anantnag and Kulgam and River Jhelum is flowing four feet above danger mark in Srinagar.
“Flood alert has been sounded in Srinagar city and all emergency services have been pressed into service to meet the eventuality of a flood,” Deputy Commissioner, Srinagar, Farooq Ahmad Shah said.
He said River Jhelum at Ram Munshi Bagh in the city was flowing at 22 feet, which is four feet above the danger mark. Two persons were washed away at Aboora in Budgam district yesterday while nearly 100 persons trapped in flood waters in south Kashmir were evacuated to safety.
A senior official said 23 villages in south Kashmir have been flooded so far.
Some parts of Srinagar city along the banks of Doodh Ganga stream were flooded as the water was flowing over the banks.
Bone and Joint Hospital and adjoining residential areas of Barzullah, Natipora and Rambagh were flooded by the water. Shah said the district administration has been monitoring the situation round-the-clock and taking steps to provide relief to the affected people.
The patients at the Bone and Joint Hospital were shifted to the upper stories of the buildings following water-logging last night. The MET office has forecast more rains over the next 48 hours raising the possibility of more areas of Kashmir getting flooded.
An official of the Weather office said Qazigund in south Kashmir received 156.7 mm rainfall in the past 24 hours up to 8.30 am today.
Srinagar recorded 52 mm rainfall in the corresponding period while Kupwara in north Kashmir received 119.4 mm rainfall.
On Wednesday, a Border Security Force or BSF officer and five others were killed in landslides and flash floods triggered by heavy rain in the Jammu region. BSF Inspector Mohammad Rashid of 154 Battalion was buried alive in a bunker due to landslide in Mandi Mandir area along the Line of Control or LoC in Poonch district, according to Inspector General of BSF, Jammu Frontier, Rakesh Sharma.
