At least three people were killed and two others are missing after a cloudburst hit Drubla Natna and Kumaite areas of Rajgarh tehsil in Jammu and Kashmir’s Ramban district during the intervening night of Friday and Saturday.
The incident took place around 12.30am, when two houses and a school building were swept away by the gushing waters, officials said. Rescue teams have been rushed to the spot, and operations are underway to trace the missing persons.
The cloudburst triggered flash floods in the mountainous Rajgarh, located about 25 kilometres from the district headquarters, early on Saturday morning, officials said.
Rescuers have found the bodies of three people, including two women, who were washed away by the floods, the officials added.
The tragedy comes a day after cloudbursts killed five and left 11 missing in Uttarakhand, Manali saw parts of its town along the river swept away, while the Jammu-Srinagar highway remained blocked for a fifth day.
On Friday, a cloudburst hit the Gurez Sector of Bandipora district. However, no casualties were reported. The cloudburst hit the Tulail area of the frontier Gurez Sector in the north Kashmir district. The sudden heavy rain caused panic among the people.
The weather department has predicted one or two spells of rain and thunder at a few places in the Jammu division from Friday afternoon and towards late night till September 2.
{{/usCountry}}The weather department has predicted one or two spells of rain and thunder at a few places in the Jammu division from Friday afternoon and towards late night till September 2.
{{/usCountry}}On Thursday, four more people were swept away in flash floods in Jammu and Samba.
A record rainfall in the Jammu region in the past two days, has caused the deaths of 45 people, most of them in a landslide on the Vaishno Devi pilgrimage route.
The death toll from the Vaishno Devi landslide in Reasi district stood at 34 after more bodies were retrieved from the debris.
The landslide struck near Indraprastha Bhojnalaya at Ardhkuwari — around halfway on the 12-km trek from Katra to the shrine — around 3pm on Tuesday.
On August 14, a cloudburst triggered flash floods in Chisoti, the last motorable village en route to the Machail Mata shrine in Kishtwar district, leaving behind a trail of devastation.
At least 65 people, mostly pilgrims, were killed in those floods, over 100 were injured, and 32 remain missing.