J-K: 12 dead, several missing as flash floods, landslides wreak havoc in Poonch-Rajouri belt

At least 12 people were killed and several others missing as torrential rains unleashed landslides and flash floods across the twin border districts of Poonch and Rajouri in Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday causing widespread damage to public and private infrastructure including roads and houses officials saidThe devastation prompted Chief Minister Omar Abdullah to skip National Conferences proposed statehood protest in Delhi on Monday and rush to Jammu to take stock of the emerging situation and oversee relief efforts Abdullah reached the Civil Secretariat here at 6 pm and chaired a highlevel meetingThe worst devastation was reported from Surankote tehsil in Poonch district where most of the fatalities occurred while rescue teams raced against time to trace the missing persons the officials saidDeputy Commissioner Poonch Ashok Kumar Sharma said at least 16 persons are feared dead in the district with bodies of nine recovered so farThe rescue efforts are ongoing while all measures are being taken to provide immediate relief to the affected population Sharma who visited various floodhit areas during the day told PTI on phoneHowever a police official said one more body was recovered in Surankote area of Poonch in the evening taking the death toll to 10 while two persons including a woman lost their lives in flash floods in Rajouri districtLt Governor Manoj Sinha and Chief Minister Abdullah expressed their grief over the loss of lives in the natural fury and assured rehabilitation of the affected population Former chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad and CPIM leader M YTarigami also extended heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families and expressed solidarity with all those affected by the calamityIn the most heartwrenching incident eight members of a family were buried when their house on the banks of a stream came under a landslide following a cloudburst in lower Murrah village of Surankote early Sunday the officials saidWhile bodies of three persons including a twoyearold boy Sofian Yasar were retrieved from the debris a search operation was continuing to trace the remaining missing persons they saidFour members of another family were reported missing after their house was washed away by flash floods at Sangla village the officials said adding the missing persons include Abdul Hameed his wife Sharifa Begum daughter Areeba and sister Manira Begum Bodies of two of the missing persons were retrieved the officials saidA 28yearold woman Nazia Kousar was killed when her house collapsed in Noonabandi village Her Husband Mohd Hafiz and three children aged between two and six years were rescued with injuries and shifted to a hospital officials saidShahzaib Ahmad 22 lost his life when his house collapsed at SanglaniSurankote while a minor girl identified as Iram drowned in a stream at Marhote An unidentified body of a woman was also fished out from a stream near Dhundak Lathoong bridge the officials saidOne person was killed and another critically injured following collapse of nearly halfadozen houses in Haveli tehsil of Poonch district they saidThe officials said the body of a woman identified as Pinky was also taken out from a river in Rajouri town which was hit by flash floods following incessant overnight rainfall forcing hundreds of residents to move to safer locations as floodwaters inundated lowlying areas Another body was found in a river in Nowshera area of the districtDozens of vehicles were swept away or submerged after overflowing rivers breached their banks causing widespread disruption the officials saidThey said rescue and relief teams assisted by the local administration were engaged in evacuating affected families and assessing the damage Local Congress MLA Iftkhar Ahmad said there was heavy damage to public and private properties in the flash floodsAs a weather advisory warned of moderate to heavy rainfall across Jammu and Kashmir till July 23 the border district of Rajouri and Poonch experienced relentless rain since Saturday evening leading to overflowing rivers and streams after a night of heavy downpourRajouri MLA Ahmed who was scheduled to participate in his partys protest in support of the restoration of statehood outside Lok Bhavan in Jammu on Sunday returned to his hometown to assess the flood situationI have abandoned my party programme to stand with my people as the flash floods have caused extensive damage to public and private property Ahmad saidChief Minister Abdullah who was in Delhi for the proposed statehood protest on Monday decided to cut short his stay in the national capital and returned to Jammu in the afternoon in view of the worsening situation across parts of the division following heavy rainsIn a post on X the chief minister earlier said he is returning from Delhi and would personally monitor the situation on the groundIn light of the weather warning put out by the meteorological department and the seriousness of the situation unfolding across parts of Jammu division I will leave Delhi to fly to Jammu this afternoon to personally monitor the situation on the ground he saidSince first light this morning Ive been closely monitoring the situation arising from the extremely heavy rain in parts of Jammu especially Rajouri town and surrounding areas Ive been in touch with the local MLAs of the region While the situation continues to unfold the first priority of the administration is to safeguard precious lives The government will do everything possible to aid amp assist affected people who have suffered property lossdamage due to the rains amp flash floods he saidAbdullah also stated that the National Conferences planned statehood protest in Delhi on July 20 will continue as scheduled under the leadership of party president Farooq AbdullahThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves 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