Gopal Sharma
JAMMU, Apr 6: Two persons were killed while three others injured as heavy rain, floods, thunder and windstorm created havoc across the region and damaged at least 70 houses and a dozen Government school buildings in Lati, Dudu tehsils of district Udhampur, Bani area of Kathua and parts of Rajouri and Poonch today, at least 40 cattle were buried alive in Mahore area of Reasi while over 4000 vehicles have been stranded in Udhampur, Dhar Road, Jammu and Nagrota Bypass as Jammu-Srinagar National Highway and Batote- Kishtwar road remained blocked for the last three days.
Indian Air Force chopper from Udhampur rescued 17 villagers trapped in flooded Poonch river this evening at Chandak while 17 others could not be lifted as the chopper was unable to carry out one more sortie due to darkness during late evening. DC, M H Malik, SSP Poonch Rajiv Pandey and local Brigade Commander were supervising the rescue operation. The Police, Army and Fire Brigade men later rescued the remaining trapped people from the river with the help of ropes.
The administration in Doda, Kishtwar, Dudu Sub Division of Udhampur and Bani Sub Division of Kathua has closed schools till April 7 in view of heavy rain and bad weather as precautionary measures.
Official sources said that at least 2400 vehicles including trucks/ load carriers were stranded at Udhampur, Bypass and Dhar Road besides Manwal, Battal Morh and Mansar due to closure of Jammu -Srinagar Highway. Nearly 1600 vehicles were also stranded at Nagrotra Bypass and Jagti area of Jammu. Some of the vehicles are said to be stranded at Chanderkote, Peerah and Ramban areas. Fresh landslides at several places between Batote-Ramban and Banihal and Batote- Doda and Kishtwar has forced closure of both the important highways.
Though authorities had cleared Batote -Kishtwar Highway near Drabshalla last evening but fresh landslides at the same place again, at Raggi Nallah and Premnagar further closed the road. The highway authorities were busy in removing boulders from the road till this evening. The Reasi-Mahore- Chasana and Chenani-Lati-Dudu besides Rajouri-Budhal roads were also closed due to landslides. Budhal road was, however, restored during mid day today.
Reports from Chenani and Lati said that at least a dozen houses having tin-roof were damaged due to strong wind storm during mid day today. A 75- year old woman Ram Devi hailing from Bain village near Chowka Nallah in Sudhmahadev fell down into nallah while moving and died during wind storm this afternoon. Water Mill of one Mansoor Ahmed was also totally damaged in Lati area.
The roof of three rooms of Govt High School Kirchi ( Dudu), newly constructed Govt Primary School Dudu, High School Dudu and ZEO office Dudu were badly damaged. The building of another Govt High School at Sira in Lati and Govt High School Bup also got damaged. Tera Mandir at Dudu, tripple storey building of one Jagdish Raj, son of Anant Ram and 4- storey house of one Shanker Dass , son of Ashru at Jakhed also got badly damaged. Another house of one Pritam Kumar, son of Hemraj at Ghar Khatiyas in Dudu area was totally damaged. House of one Mohd Aslam and Suram Chand at Lati, 5-storey house of Pinki Gupta and another house of Sanjeev Kumar at Dudu were also badly damaged. At least two dozen houses/ buildings have been damaged in Lati and Dudu tehsils of Udhampur, a senior official said.
At least three persons including an 8th class student Chain Singh from Dhar Khtyas, were injured in these incidents but they could not be shifted to Udhampur hospital as road was closed due to falling of trees and poles on the road. The power supply to the entire sub division has been suspended and cables and poles have been broken.
The wind storm also caused havoc in Gandoh, Bhalessa and Thathri area of district Doda and caused damage to at least a score of houses and school buildings. The houses mostly at Gwari, Tandla, Swara, Tolagarha, Jakyas , Haddel, Mano and Kutha were damaged due to storm today. The family of one Talib Hussain has come under open sky as his house at Barthi Bahlla was fully damaged. Seven sheep of one Haji Abdullah at Hadel were killed as a large tree fell on them.
Another report from Reasi said that 40 sheep/ goats of one Abdul Rehman, resident of Balmatkote in Chasana (Mahore) were buried alive as their cattle shed and a portion of thatched house, was collapsed this morning due to heavy rain. While family members had miraculous escape, their belongings and cattle were buried under the debris. A police party from Chasana had been sent to the area. The road from Reasi to Mahore and Sungri-Chasana-Budhal was also closed due to land slides at four places.
Due to bad weather and rain, the chopper service to Mata Vaishnodevi Shrine from Katra base camp also remained suspended today but pilgrimage continued smoothly despite rain during the day, a Shrine Board spokesman said.
At least six houses were damaged in Mendhar, Mandi and Surankote area of Poonch due to rain since last evening. The rain and flood water from drains entered many shops in Mendhar town early today causing extensive damage to the goods of the traders. There was at least three feet water in the shops and traders resorted to protest against local RDD authorities and Administration for their failure to maintain the drains. SDM Mendhar Rahul Yadav and Tehsildar pacified the protesting traders and assured inquiry.
Extensive damage was suffered by traders Balraj Gupta, Sham Lal and Mohd Akeel. The water damaged Karyana and ration items including rice, Atta, sugar, pulses etc. The flood in river Mendhar has also caused soil erosion at several places. Houses of Mohd Azam, his brother Mohd Azim at Bhatidhar and Mohd Aslam, son of Lal Khan at Salwah in Mendhar and Ghulam Mohd at Plera in Mandi have been damaged. Two more houses have been partially damaged in Surankote area.
A report from Rajouri said that 45-year-old Khatoon Begum, wife of Abdul Rashid, resident of Khaniya ( Dandot) in Budhal was coming home with her cattle when amidst thunderstorm, lightning hit her causing her death on the spot. Her body was shifted to Budhal hospital.
Budhal Road also remained closed for 3-4 hours today due to land slides but it was restore at around 12.30 pm.
Meanwhile, Chenab region experienced heavy rainfall which has triggered landslides at several places, due to which the vehicular movement on Batote-Doda-Kishtwar National Highway (NH1B) and Bhaderwah-Doda road was remained disrupted. The District Administration has ordered to close all educational institutions in view of inclement weather conditions.
The Batote-Kishtwar Highway got closed at Drabshalla, Premnagar, Raggi Nallah and Dhansal while Bhadarwah-Doda road got closed in Bhalla area due to heavy landslides triggered after heavy rainfall.
According to reports, authorities started restoration work immediately after receiving information about landslide but continue showers of rain and shooting stones are making.
“Passengers and vehicles got stuck at several places as traffic was suspended after the highway and link roads got blocked by landslides triggered due to heavy rains on Thursday morning,” DySP Traffic Aftab Bukhari said.
“We are trying to restore the road for traffic as soon as possible, but continue showers of rains and falling of shooting stones are hampering the restoration work,” officer added.
However, hundreds of vehicles and thousands of passengers remained stranded at Udhampur as authorities are not allowing traffic movement towards Batote.
Meanwhile, after getting no respite from the intense cold wave conditions which swept entire Chenab Valley since last 3 days, district administration of Doda was forced to close all the educational institutions today.
“Due to the increasing hostility of the weather, we have decided to close all the educational institutions for today. We will review the situation later in the day and accordingly a decision will be taken for coming days,” DC Doda, Bhupinder Kumar said.
The District Administration Kathua has also closed schools in Bani zone till April 7 due to rains, bad weather conditions and damage caused to many school buildings due to windstorm. At least twenty buildings/ houses including seven Govt schools and Police Chowki at Loang got damaged in wind storm. The power supply to most of the areas of Bani Sub Division, Lohai- Malhar and Macched area has been suspended as poles and trees got uprooted. The houses of Som Raj at Khadar, Manohar Lal at Domia Kilar, Rattan Chand, Som Raj-II at Domia, Puran Chand, Vijay Kumar and Chandu Ram at Dandikote, Kaka Ram at Dhaman and Darshan Kumar at Barmota were severely damaged.
A MeT spokesman said that day temperature in Jammu remained 24 degree Celsius which is 7 degree below normal. The temple city recorded minimum temperature of 14.9 deg C and 26.6 mm rainfall. Bhaderwah recorded 50.8 mm rainfall, Banihal 90.4 mm while Katra recorded 49. 8 mm rainfall. In next 24 hours also the weather will remain same in the region while it will improve after April 8, the spokesman said.
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