At least eleven people were killed and five were reported missing after a cloudburst hit the Rajgarh area of Ramban district in J&K, officials said.
A search and rescue operation has been launched to provide immediate relief to the victims. Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) of Ramban, Arun Gupta, said, “Eleven bodies have been recovered, while another one is missing. We are trying to trace them. The sudden cloudburst triggered flash floods in the Natna area, causing damage to a house and a school besides disrupting normal life in the area.” He further said that efforts are being made to provide immediate relief to the families of the victims.
“Efforts are being made to provide immediate relief to the families of the victims, while search and rescue operations continue under the supervision of DC, SSP and ASP, who reached the spot early morning today,” the SSP Ramban said.
Ramban has been grappling with heavy rainfall and flash floods. According to the IMD, isolated heavy rainfall is likely to continue over J&K from August 30 to September 2, while light to moderate rainfall is predicted in parts of J&K, Ladakh, Gilgit-Baltistan, Muzaffarabad, and Uttarakhand during the next four days.
The Regional Meteorological Centre has issued an orange alert for Ramban, Rajouri, Jammu, Reasi, Udhampur, Poonch, Kathua, and other districts, warning of very heavy rainfall for today. Similar alerts have been put in place for the upcoming days.
Earlier on August 29, the Indian Air Force (IAF) intensified its flood relief and rescue operations in Northern India with a primary focus on the severely affected Jammu and Punjab regions, the Ministry of Defence said.
Mi-17 and Chinook helicopters have conducted more than 55 sorties to extract stranded civilians, including personnel from the Indian Army and Border Security Force, from inundated areas in Dera Baba Nanak, Pathankot, and Akhnoor sectors.
Transport aircraft (C-130) have been deployed to facilitate the rapid movement of specialised NDRF teams into the affected zones, the ministry said. Further, it said that the “operations have enabled the rescue of 215 individuals and delivered 7,300 kgs of essential relief material in the affected areas in the past three days.”
(With inputs from ANI)
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