SRINAGAR: At least, five people were killed and three more went missing in flash floods, mudslides and house collapses triggered by heavy downpours across Jammu and Kashmir during the past 24 hours, officials in twin capitals Srinagar and Jammu.
Meanwhile, the pilgrimages to Amarnath and Vaishno Devi cave-shrines tucked away in J&K’s Pahalgam and Trikuta hills, respectively, have been disrupted due to the inclement weather.
A report said that the authorities stopped pilgrims from proceeding “as a precautionary measure “.
Officials said.five deaths took place in separate landslides, mudslides and house collapse incidents in Kathua district alone. “Five persons are feared dead after two residential houses belonging to Mushtaq Ahmed and Abdul Qayum collapsed in Surjan Morha Aruad block in the Bani area of Kathua in the impact of heavy rainfall”, said SSP Kathua Shivdeep Singh Jamwal.
He added that five members of the two families got buried under the debris of these houses and two of them have been identified as Tabseem Bano and Muhammad Arif as their bodies were recovered later. The rescue operation was under way to retrieve the other three identified as Zareen Begum, Shahbaz and Arbaz.
Earlier DC Kathua had in a tweet said, “In view of inclement weather forecast, public at large is advised not to venture out and stay indoors. Avoid rivers/nallahs.”
Beyond Jammu, the highway connecting J&K’s winter capital with Pathankot in Punjab too was earlier during the day closed for vehicular traffic in view of the flood-like situation in Tarnah Nullah. The Mughal Road, connecting Kashmir Valley’s Shopian district with the twin border districts of Rajouri and Poonch, too has been closed due to a landslide.
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