Heavy downpour causes waterlogging in Kashmir

For the second day heavy rains were witnessed in the Union territory with Kashmir’s capital Srinagar recording 45.6 mm of rains and central Kashmir’s Ganderbal receiving 46 mm rainfall in a brief period

Heavy rains lashed parts of Kashmir on Monday, leading to waterlogging in several areas in Srinagar even as the Meteorological Department has forecast spells of rainfall or thundershowers till July 23, officials said.

People travelling through a waterlogged road during heavy rainfall in Srinagar. (Waseem Andrabi/HT)

For the second day heavy rains were witnessed in the Union territory with Kashmir’s capital Srinagar recording 45.6 mm of rains and central Kashmir’s Ganderbal receiving 46 mm rainfall in a brief period.

The heavy downpour in Srinagar inundated large parts of Srinagar city particularly its business and tourist hubs like Lal Chowk, Jehangir Chowk, Maisuma and Boulevard road on Dal Lake, and a major part of the Old City.

From Nawa Kadal to Baba Demb , a 3-km stretch in DownTown, traffic movement was affected in the morning and business closed as rain water flooded large stretches of the road and the accompanying shops and business areas.

Srinagar municipal commissioner Fazlul Haseeb said that Srinagar witnessed a sudden burst of heavy rainfall which overwhelmed its drainage capacity. “Sometimes, the rainfall is more than our drainage capacity. We identified some 60 hotspots in the city and deployed teams and activated dewatering stations. Declogging of drains is also going on,” Haseeb said.

Water entered shops and godowns causing damage, resulting in loses for shopkeepers. “Unfortunately, the Downtown gets inundated whenever there is rainfall of even an hour. We have approached all the concerned departments but no action has been taken. Whenever it rains , it floods the shops in the Old City including in Baba Demb. Who will pay for the losses of the shopkeepers,” said Jan Mohammad, a resident.

Meanwhile, the MeT informed in an update that the rainfall is expected to continue in coming two days.

“July 21-23 will be generally cloudy with few spells of rain and thundershowers expected at most places with extremely heavy rain in some districts,” the update said.

The update said that there is possibility of heavy or torrential rains at a few districts of J&K, including Jammu, Kathua, Samba, Rajouri, Poonch, Doda, Ramban & Kishtwar. “There is a possibility of flash floods, landslides and mudslides at many vulnerable places. Rise in water level in rivers & flooding or water logging in low lying areas is also expected,” it said.