Need to review measures taken after 2014 deluge: CM

With Jammu witnessing massive damage following record rainfall this week, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Thursday said he would sit with officers to review what measures had been implemented in the years since the devastating 2014 floods in Jammu and Kashmir.

Speaking to reporters in Srinagar on the side-lines of an event, Omar Abdullah said this time there had been heavy rainfall in both Jammu and Kashmir.

“God saved us. If it had rained for another day or two, we would have had to face a lot of difficulties. But now the water has started to come down. It comes down very quickly in Jammu. It takes some time to come down here in Kashmir, but the water has started to come down,” he said.

Stating that, for now, “we have come out of this danger”, the Chief Minister added, “I will have to sit with the officers and understand what we did after 2014.”

He warned that if such a situation could arise after just two days of rain, “then God forbid, if it rains for four days, we will find ourselves in the same situation as in 2014. At that time, after facing rains for 6-7 days, we suffered floods.”

Omar said he would try to understand what measures had been taken since 2014.

“Where did the money come from? How much was the carrying capacity increased in the flood channel? How much did we succeed in increasing the carrying capacity of Jhelum by dredging Jhelum? And where there were some shortcomings, we will have to correct them,” he said, adding, “we cannot live like this every year.”

Earlier on Thursday, Divisional Commissioner Kashmir Anshul Garg said water levels in the Jhelum had risen to alarming heights this time.

He said the next 15–20 days would be very important, until the withdrawal of the monsoon and the situation would be closely monitored.

Garg added that there were around 150 vulnerable spots, but most had withstood the pressure and there had been no breach on either embankment of the Jhelum.

“Water levels in the Jhelum reached danger levels, which were 10-year highs. But despite that, we have not seen any kind of loss,” he said. On connectivity, which saw major breakdowns this week, Garg said there was damage in Jammu and teams were working on restoration, which he hoped would be completed soon.