5 rescued by army chopper at Kathua, man dies in wall collapse at Rajouri; DC Udhampur visits flood-hit streets to access situation
HITESH MAHAJAN
Jammu: Heavy rains created havoc in the plains and triggered landslides, flash floods in hilly parts of the region as well as triggered panic after water level in Tawi increased.
Rains continued to lash Jammu and Kashmir with Katra recording a downpour of 99.6mm in the last 24 hours, officials said on Tuesday. The weatherman has also forecast a “significant decrease” in rainfall from tomorrow.
On Wednesday, the overall rainfall activity will gradually begin to decrease, although some lingering isolated heavy showers may persist over the region.
As Jammu experienced heavy rainfall since 2 days, the city witnessed flash floods in some parts. Water level in Tawi river has swelled due to continuous rains in the upper reaches while Jammu University roads get damaged due to flooding.
“The water level rose to 11.5 feet which is considered normal. However, a little rise to 14 feet would create an alert in the city” as per the officials of Irrigation and Flood control Department.
Officials said that water level is quite normal. Rainfall in Udhampur has slowed down and the water level has lowered to 3 feet”. Hopefully, the levels will decrease soon but people are advised to avoid the Tawi route.” said an official.
The roads have been waterlogged and the rain water has gushed inside the houses in many low lying areas of Jammu city.
DC Udhampur, Indu Kanwal Chib ventured into the gushing flood waters in Satani area to take stock of the situation and to meet the flood-affected people. Touched by her gesture, area residents greeted her with slogans.
While at Kathua, 5 persons who were trapped in the flood in Ujj river were safely rescued by army helicopter at Kathua. As per the details, an information was received through reliable source that few persons are trapped in the flash flood due to the heavy rainfall occurred in the hilly areas as a result of which flood came in Ujh River. As per the input, five persons namely Din Mohd, son of Raju Ali; Asgar Ali, son of Moj Din; Imam Hussain, son of Mouj Din; Din Mohd., son of Raju Din; all resident of Kanwal, Korepunnu and Mohd., son of Sher Mohd, resident of Mahi Chak visited area in early morning time and got stranded in the flood. On this team of Police Station Rajbagh under the supervision of SDPO Border Sachit Mahajan on the directions of SSP Kathua R C Kotwal, along with the team of SDRF immediately reached on spot. As both the spots witnessed high rise of flash floods, a request to Divisional Commissioner Jammu was made by Deputy Commissioner Rahul Yadav for immediately deputing of Chopper to rescue the trapped persons from overflowing rivulets. An Indian Air-force chopper was pressed into action to airlift the stuck persons. Two sorties of IAF Chopper were conducted and 5 persons (4 from Khandhwal and 1 from Mahi Chack) were successfully rescued in a swift operation.
Boundary wall of Army’s signal regiment collapsed at old bus stand Rajouri on Tuesday as a result one employee of municipal council Rajouri namely Dhani Ram, son of Lachuu Ram, resident of Peer Kanju died on the spot. The wall collapsed due to incessant rains. On receiving the information police rushed to the spot and shifted his body to morgue.