Flood alert in Srinagar as heavy rain lashes Valley

Azhar Qadri

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, March 29

The Jammu and Kashmir administration on Sunday evening sounded a flood alert in Srinagar district as the water level of the Jhelum crossed the 16-foot danger mark in the city, a senior official said.

Heavy and incessant rain over the past 24 hours, which is likely to continue for the rest of the week, has lashed the Kashmir region.

Deputy Commissioner, Srinagar, Farooq Lone, told The Tribune that a flood alert had been sounded and families living in the vicinity of the river had been advised to be cautious.

The district administration has also ordered the setting up of relief camps at several spots on the outskirts of the city. The administration has dispatched boats to south Kashmir and asked boatmen from the Dal lake for their services in view of the continuing rain, sources said.

A 100-member team of NDRF is likely to visit the Kashmir region on Monday, sources said.

The 300-km-long Srinagar-Jammu highway was closed to traffic after a landslide in Ramban district, an official at the state Traffic Department's control room said. The official said at least five roads — four of them in south Kashmir's Kulgam and Pulwama districts — have been cut off after bridges connecting villages were washed away in these areas.

Heavy rain began on Saturday evening and continued incessantly throughout the day on Sunday, putting the entire administration on alert. 

As many as 14 villages in central Kashmir's Budgam district and one village in south Kashmir were evacuated, officials said.

Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir, Gazanfar Ali issued an avalanche warning effective for the next 24 hours in parts of south Kashmir's Kulgam and Pulwama, north Kashmir's Baramulla, Kupwara and Bandipora and central Kashmir's Ganderbal districts.

A similar warning was also issued for avalanche-prone areas of Kargil district.

The state's Meteorological Department, which has already warned of week-long rain with a potential to trigger landslides and flash floods, said moderate to heavy rain and thundershowers would occur at most places in the state till Monday evening.

Srinagar city, the state's summer capital where large swathes of residential and commercial neighbourhoods were submerged by the deluge last year, recorded 74.6 mm rainfall in the past 24 hours, according to the weather department. Several parts of the Kashmir region also received snowfall.

A flash flood, triggered early morning in north Kashmir's Baramulla district, washed away a portion of a bridge at Kunzer, snapping connectivity with the famed Gulmarg skiing resort, the officials said.

The administration is readying itself for the worst and has secured the services of boatmen and also ordered shifting of rafting boats from Pahalgam resort, sources said.

Jhelum crosses danger mark

The water level in the Jhelum, which was the source of last year’s deluge, crossed the danger mark this evening