Cloudburst hits Cherwan Kangan in J-K's Ganderbal
Ganderbal: A cloudburst on Sunday hit the Cherwan Kangan area of Jammu and Kashmir's Ganderbal district causing damage to paddy fields in the area.
Visuals from the scene show vehicles stuck in debris with houses waterlogged disrupting movement.
Due to the flooding, SSG Road near Padawbal was blocked as the nearby canal overflowed. However, so far, no causality has been reported.
Speaking to ANI, ADC Ganderbal, Gulzar Ahmad informed that no loss of lives has been reported and that the priority is to clear the road. He further added that the people whose houses were affected have been rescued and shifted to safer places.
"This cloudburst occurred on the night of Sunday. Debris have been accumulated here, but with God's grace, no lives have been lost. Our priority is to clear the road... In those houses in which the debris had entered, we rescued those people and shifted them to safer places. The district police, administration and private establishments are working in tandem. We will be able to clear it today only," said ADC Ganderbal, Gulzar Ahmad.
Ganderbal SDM Bilal Mukhtar said, "No matter how much the human remains prepared, it can't compete against nature. I would like to thank the common people who started rescuing even before the police arrived and ensured that no lives were lost... The houses in low-lying areas have been damaged, we are assessing the situation. For now, we have shifted a few people to the houses nearby and if the situation arises we will shift them to plane areas. I'll advise people who are travelling and those who are in Amarnath Yatra to be informed about the situation and wait for the update from the district administration."
In the last few days, the monsoon furry has triggered multiple flash floods, and landslides affecting several states of the country, including Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Kerala.
Over 300 people have lost their lives in Kerala, 15 in Uttarakhand. And 47 people are missing in Himachal Pradesh following natural disasters that occurred due to heavy rain.
Himachal Pradesh minister Vikramaditya Singh said on Saturday that around 50 people are feared dead in the affected areas and the official number can only be declared after official confirmation and completion of rescue operations.
Meanwhile, after 15 people lost their lives in the cloudburst and landslides along the Kedarnath Yatra route, teams from the Indian Air Force joined the rescue and relief operations with the NDRF, and the SDRF, for the stranded pilgrims.
Notably, the death toll in the massive landslides that occurred on July 30 in Chooralmala and Mundakkai of Kerala's Wayanad stands at 308 as of Friday, Kerala Health Minister Veena George said.