Heavy rains hit normal life across Jammu, Srinagar

Heavy rains on Wednesday brought normal life to a grinding halt across the Jammu region where an eight-year-old boy was killed and a teenaged girl injured in separate incidents of house collapse.

The traffic on the Jammu-Srinagar highway, the only surface link with the Kashmir valley, remained disrupted for the day due to multiple landslides in Udhampur and Ramban districts, while the authorities closed all government schools in Udhampur and Reasi districts on Wednesday in view of bad weather.

Incent rains were experienced across Srinagar city resulting in water logging at several low-lying areas like lal chowk, jawahar nagar, rajbagh etc.

Official reports said heavy rains caused damage to several houses in Udhampur and the Khour area of Jammu district, while rain water entered the houses in the Dhar road area of Udhampur causing damage to household goods.

“A boy has been killed in a house collapse incident in the Lander area and we have issued orders for paying ex gratia to the victim’s family. There are also reports of damage to some ‘kucha’ (mud) houses in the district. Besides, rain water entered several houses in the Dhar road area. Our revenue officials are on job to assess the losses,” Piyush Singla, Deputy Commissioner, Udhampur, said.

The deceased boy was identified as Pawan Kumar. A teenaged girl, identified as Sunita, was injured in another house collapse incident.

Torrential rains also triggered landslides at three different places on the highway in Udhampur district, leaving thousands of vehicles stranded for hours.

“The highway was closed late at night due to heavy landslides at Morh Passi near Bali nullah, at least 10-km away from Udhampur. The district administration along with the BRO pressed men and machinery to clear the mudslides from the road and it was done in a record time. The highway was made motorable by 11 am,” Singla said.

A traffic official said the highway was thrown open for traffic at 5 pm and vehicles were allowed to move towards Srinagar from Nagrota.

In Reasi , the administration announced the closure of all schools for the day due to inclement weather. The pilgrimage to the Vaishno Devi shrine located in Trikuta Hills was also diverted.