After lull, Kashmir braces for storm

Azhar Qadri

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, March 31

Kashmir valley continues to remain on edge and in a state of alert as a fresh stormy weather system is approaching the region with a potential to cause a lengthy downpour from Wednesday afternoon and further aggravate a critical situation.

The state administration is in a heightened alert in view of the forecast for the latest downpour and has deployed personnel to monitor the fragile embankments of the Jhelum, the main river of the region that was the source of last year’s devastating deluge.

The administration held several meetings during the day to monitor and assess the fluid situation and chalk out contingency plans as the state meteorological department issued a fresh warning in its forecast bulletin saying heavy rain and thundershowers “could occur” at some places in the state in the next 48 hours.

The heavy downpour and the latest warning of moderate to heavy rainfall has caused panic among the flood-weary residents here. Shopkeepers in Lal Chowk, the commercial nerve centre of Srinagar city,and its adjoining markets emptied their shops and moved the merchandise to safer locations.

The partial respite provided by the pause in rainfall, which has stopped since Monday morning, is nearing an end as fresh downpour is expected from Wednesday afternoon. 

The stormy Western Disturbance weather system will approach the region in the next 24 hours, the officials here said. "It has the potential to aggravate the situation."

The incessant and heavy rainfall for 36 hours earlier this week had caused flood in the Jhelum. The cessation of downpour led to its steady decline below the flood mark.

The heavy rainfall had triggered several landslides in the region blocking the Srinagar-Jammu highway, which was reopened  today, and burying 16 people in central Kashmir’s Budgam district.

Sources in the state administration said that men and machinery have been put on “full alert” while eight teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) have been “rationally distributed” in the region. 

Two NDRF teams have been positioned in south Kashmir, two have been dispatched to north Kashmir and four have been put on standby at separate zones inside Srinagar city, which had faced widespread devastation during the deluge last year, sources said.

The sources said three battalions of the police have also been put on standby and are camping on the city outskirts, ready to move in for rescue operations.

The police in a statement said it has kept boats, tubes, ropes and trucks ready for “effective evacuations in case of any exigency”. 

The evacuation of residents from low-lying, flood-prone and hilly areas continued for a third day as hundreds were moved to safer locations in north and south Kashmir.