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52-yr-old woman swept away after flash flood in Kupwara
Police said that Naseema Begum, 52, was in her agriculture field near a small Nallah when she slipped into flash floods caused by a cloudburst in Himli area of Lolab in north Kashmir’s Kupwara district
A woman was washed away while hundreds of people were evacuated as multiple cloudbursts struck the Valley on Monday, triggering flash floods in several districts, officials said.
Police said that Naseema Begum, 52, was in her agriculture field near a small Nallah when she slipped into flash floods caused by a cloudburst in Himli area of Lolab in north Kashmir’s Kupwara district.
“Her body was recovered 1km downstream at Shahabad after a search operation was launched following the sudden surge of floodwaters,” said police officer Bashir Ahmad.
He said that flash floods also uprooted some trees which damaged some houses. He added that the water also damaged some agricultural fields.
Meanwhile, flash floods were also reported in South Kashmir’s Shopian and Anantnag districts. Residents said that heavy rains caused flash floods in Badrhama village in Shopian damaging number of houses and causing panic among the residents.
“Water entered many houses prompting the residents to evacuate to safer areas,” said a Badrhama resident.
Faizan Arif, an independent weather forecaster, said that a very high-intensity spell of rain affected parts of Shopian district. “Due to its high intensity and relatively wide coverage, flash floods have been reported from several villages across the district. At present, there is no verified information confirming a cloudburst,” Arif said.
“However, the intense rainfall has caused small streams and nullahs to overflow, triggering flash floods that have affected several structures, “ he said.
NH-44 closed
Heavy rains lashed parts of Jammu and Kashmir on Monday promoting the closure of Srinagar- Jammu national highway(NH 44) and flash floods in parts of Kashmir.
While the day was hot and humid, high velocity rains lashed the valley and Jammu parts in the afternoon.
Officials said that the Srinagar-Jammu NH was closed for traffic at 5 pm because the mountainous road became slushy due to heavy rainfall in Udhampur. “NH-44 update at 1700 hrs: Traffic has been stopped from both ends on the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway (NH-44) as the road has become a single carriageway and the road surface is highly slushy, muddy, and extremely slippery at the Dawal slide near Dawal Bridge in the Samroli area of Udhampur district due to heavy rainfall,” said the traffic department in an update.
NHAI personnel and machinery along with traffic police personnel were pushed into service to restore the road.
“Commuters are advised not to travel on NH-44 until the road is cleared and declared safe for traffic movement. Please don’t pay heed on the rumors and check the status of road at traffic police Twitter handle, Facebook page, TCUs,” the update said.
MeT predicts more rains
The meteorological centre in J&K has predicted morning and evening rains in the J&K for the next five days. There is also a prediction of torrential rains.
The MeT update said that August 4 may experience light to moderate rain and thundershower at many places, with the possibility of heavy rain/brief intense heavy showers/torrential rain over a few districts.
“On August 5 to 7, there is a possibility of light to moderate rain/ thundershower at many places with brief intense heavy showers at few places,” it said. “Torrential Rain/brief intense heavy showers may generate flashfloods/landslides at vulnerable places during next 5 days,” it added.
With inputs from HTC Jammu
