Women and children being transported in a boat through a flooded road to a safer place during incessant rains in Srinagar. Photo: The Hindu
Four days of very heavy rain has affected districts in northern India and north-eastern Pakistan, causing damage and deaths, and leading to continuing misery in Pakistan. In Jammu and Kashmir, the death toll is 160 while in Pakistan it is 170.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Jammu on Sunday to personally review the situation in the flood-hit state after over 160 people lost their lives in the worst floods to affect Jammu and Kashmir in 60 years.
Accumulated rainfall from 2-5 September for the north India and north-eastern Pakistan regions.
Floods and landslides, due to very heavy rains, affected parts of Jammu and Kashmir while in Pakistan very heavy rains continue, causing floods in parts of Punjab and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. Pakistan’s National Disaster Management Authority announced that “Very High to Exceptionally High Flood Level” is likely to continue in the Chenab and Jhelum along with their associated streams for the next two days.
On 4 September a bus, filled to capacity with 52 members of a wedding group, was on its way to Lam, around 120 km from Jammu city, when it was hit by surging waters of the Gambhir river. Only three people survived the accident.
The state capital of Srinagar also braced for major floods with the Jhelum, Kashmir’s main river, flowing more than 2.13 metres (seven feet) above the danger mark. Vast swathes of Srinagar remain inundated. The 300-km-long Jammu-Srinagar national highway also closed for traffic after two landslides in the Ramban district left hundreds of vehicles stranded. South Kashmir’s Anantnag and Kulgam districts are among the worst hit, with at least 50 villages under water.
A flooded ward in Srinagar. Photo: Waseem Andrabi / Hindustan Times
The Indian Army has evacuated 11,000 people to safety by deploying 100 columns of troops in flood-hit areas of the state. About 2,000 people have been provided food and temporary shelter in Jammu and Kashmir. A total of 100 Army columns (each column is 75-100 troops), 13 teams of Army engineers are working in the flood-affected regions of the state. The Army’s ‘Mission Sahayata’ is rescuing people trapped in flooded villages, isolated houses and multi-storied buildings in the inundated areas all over Kashmir, with tented shelter being provided to those who have lost their homes to the floodwaters.
Torrential monsoon rains have again wreaked havoc in Pakistan’s largest province Punjab and in Pakistan-administered Kashmir since 4 September. A Pakistan Meteorological Department report given to the Indus River Commission – which looks after Indus, Jhelum and Chenab rivers – said on September 5 that around 0.9 million cusecs (cubic feet per second, equal to over 25,000 cumecs, or cubic metres per second) of additional water was flowing down the Himalayan rivers, according to Ghulam Rasul, Chief Meteorological Officer. Rasul said the floods would have a devastating impact in Kashmir, Punjab and Sindh due to lack of preparations and absence of water management strategies.
Map of the flood-affected areas from the from European Commission Humanitarian Aid department.
However, Sindh and Punjab are expected to face severe flooding in the coming days, the Pakistan Meteorological Department warned on Sunday. A press release issued by the Meteorological Department said that water levels in the Indus River at Sukkur and Guddu Barrage are constantly increasing, and consequently, there will be severe floods on September 13 and 14 in both provinces.
Ahmad Kamal, a spokesman for Pakistan’s National Disaster Management Authority, said at least 69 people have died in the eastern Punjab province since Thursday. He said another 48 people died in the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and 11 died in northern Gilgit Baltistan province.
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