Srinagar, Sep 9: Incessant rains continued to lash Kashmir since last night, sparking crop damage fears among the farming community of the Valley.
 Director Metrological Department Kashmir Sonam Lotus told Greater Kashmir that the precipitation is being caused due to interactions between the monsoon currents and western disturbances prevalent over the Valley. “The moisture incursion is coming from the Arbian sea. As a result Valley and parts of Ladakh are witnessing incessant rainfall,” he said and added that weather conditions are likely improve from Monday afternoon.
 Lotus said that the temperature recorded here is 19 degrees Celsius. “There is 9 degree dip in temperature,” he said and added that after Monday afternoon, there will gradual increase in temperature.
 The MeT official said that besides valley,some parts of Ladakh also received rains. “There was a light snowfall in Khardungla area of Ladakh,” he said. Lotus said that there are apprehensions of landslides in the higher reaches. “People living in higher must remain cautious. Flashfloods can also come at isolated places,” he said
 Giving the break up, the MeT office here said that Srinagar recorded 3.3mm rainfall, Qazigund received 19.4 mm rainfall till Sunday afternoon, while as tourist resort of nearby Pahalgam recorded 5.2 mm, Kokernag received 4.2 mm and Kupwara 1.8 mm.
 During the last month, Valley witnessed above normal day and night temperatures by about 4 degrees Celsius. The highest day temperatures touched 34 degrees as against normal temperatures of 30 degree Celsius.

NOMADS RESCUED
 With the timely action of civil, military and police authorities, 33 people of Gujjar and Bakerwal communities who were trapped in the flashfloods in Shopian district of south Kashmir were rescued, officials said here.
 Officials said that Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir received a message from the Deputy Commissioner, Shopian Sunday morning about the flashfloods in Rishnagri Nullah in Shopian district, where 33 persons including 12 male, 8 women and 11 children were trapped in the island along with their cattle.
 The officials said that water level continued to rise in the Nullah and administration called the Army authorities for help. The local unit of Army’s 62-Rashtriya Rifles started the rescue operation and rescued all the trapped persons and the civil administration has appreciated the gesture of Army authorities for rescuing the lives of civilians. Deputy Commissioners, Shopian, Kulgam, officials of divisional disaster management and senior police officers of both the districts supervised the rescue operation.
 “We started the rescue operation at 9 am and ended at 4 pm,” said Amir Ali adding that Air force was also put on standby, but because of the continuous rains, their choppers could not fly.

PMGSY WORKER KILLED
 Mahinder Singh son of Jugal Kishore resident of Kantigam area of Ramban working in PMGSY site at Passran, Darakundan came under a landslide at village Passran, Baramulla, in the jurisdiction of police station Boniyar and died on spot, police said adding that the body has been recovered and handed over to his relatives for last rites.

2 PERSONS MISSING
 Amir Ali said that two persons from Srinagar, who have gone trekking in Kangan area are missing since Sunday morning. “We are searching from them,” he said.

HIGHWAY OPEN:
 Despite the heavy rainfall Srinagar-Jammu highway was open to vehicular traffic, officials of traffic department said here. "Traffic is plying normally on the highway," an official of traffic department said here.

SHAHID RAFIQ ADDS FROM KUPWARA:
 Flashfloods triggered due to heavy rains since Saturday afternoon wreaked havoc with paddy and maize crops in Lashtiyal area of Kalaroose in this frontier district.
 The rains also damaged standing crops in Handwara, Rajwar, and Haihama areas.
 The farmers in Kalaroose Lolab said that crops spread over thousands of kanals were affected by flashfloods last night. “The floods flattened the standing paddy and maize crops. The vegetable fields spread over a vast area of land had also been washed away,” said Ghulam Muhammad a farmer of Kalaroos.
 The rains had raised the water level in nallahs including Tram-khani, Sarkoli and Narikoot in Kalaroose Lolab. “The water level rose in rain-fed nallahs’ drastically and swept away the standing crops. Almost every year flash floods damage the crops’ in Kalaroose days before harvesting of crops begins,” said Bashir Ahmad.
 The worst-hit areas in Kalaroose include Lashtiyal, Madmaddu, Kaniora and Thayan. “The farmers’ can hardly obtain grass from the flood-hit crops. To our ill-luck, the damage was caused only few days before the start of harvesting season,” said the locals. “Teams of agriculture department have been sent to the affected areas to asses the loss caused due to flash floods” said the officials of district administration.
 Reports from upper areas of Haihama and Handwara said that torrential rains and winds have caused damage to the standing crops. Torrential rains and fast blowing winds grounded the maize and paddy crops in Kanibhack, Pathra, Behramdari, Chart, Kundard, Safawali and Jugtyal hamlets besides affecting some Handwara villages.

Lastupdate on : Sun, 9 Sep 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Sun, 9 Sep 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Mon, 10 Sep 2012 00:00:00 IST