Srinagar, Sep 10: With some improvement in weather by Monday evening, authorities said that there is no imminent threat of floods in the Valley while the Meteorological Department officials forecast more rains in isolated places of Kashmir and Ladakh.
Officials had sounded flood alarm Monday morning and asked people living along the banks of River Jhelum to shift to safer places.
Due to the precipitation caused by the interactions between the monsoon currents and western disturbances prevalent over the region, Kashmir valley and parts of Ladakh witnessed incessant rainfall since Saturday afternoon till Monday afternoon.
Officer on Special Duty (OSD) with Divisional Commissioner’s office and Coordinator Disaster Management, Amir Ali, said that except Ashem in Bandipora district, the water level is receding. “In the morning the water level at Ram Munshi Bagh was 16.02 feet and now it is receding and has reached 15 feet,” he said and added that water level at Sangam gauge has also receded. At Sangam gauge, Amir Ali said it is below 13 feet and in Ashem Bandipora it has reached 10.75 feet. “At Ashem, the level is rising and we have asked the people living there to remain cautious,” he said.
The official said that Divisional Commissioner Kashmir Monday afternoon convened a meeting and asked the Deputy Commissioners of all districts to be more vigilant. “Divisional Commissioner also took a boat ride of Jhelum to assess the situation,” he said.
Giving details of the rainfall, Director Meteorological Department, Sonam Lotus said that Srinagar received 13.6 mm rainfall till 8.30 am this morning and ski resort of Gulmarg in north Kashmir recorded 39.2 mm rains. Qazigund, he said, recorded 21.6 mm rainfall followed by Kupwara 20.9 mm and Pahalgam 11.6 mm.
The downpour, Lotus said, has resulted in drop in temperature. “Srinagar recorded a maximum temperature of 18.9 degrees Celsius today, that is nine degrees below normal,” he said.
“The weather will improve and there will be gradual increase in temperature. At the same time there will be rains at isolated places in Kashmir and Ladakh regions,” he said.
Reports from Kargil said that the district is experiencing rainfall for last 24 hours due to which there is a fall in temperature.
In Sankoo and Suru Valley farmers are facing lots of problems due to rain. If the rain continues there is chance of damage to crops.
In the apricot producing areas, continuous rainfall can cause heavy damage as it is the season of fruit drying.
The Kargil-Srinagar road is open for vehicular traffic and traffic is also plying smoothly on Kargil-Zanskar and Kargil-Leh road.
Authorities managed to rescue four youth trapped in an overflowing river on Sunday night in South Kashmir district of Kulgam.
“Four youth who were trapped in flash floods that swept the Veshaw river at Chakpora near Bazloo Bridge were rescued,” an official said.
Earlier, the attempts by the authorities to rescue the boys had failed. However, later a team of Rafting Association and Jawahar Lal Institute of Mountaineering (JIM), Pahalgam, rushed to the spot and managed to rescue all the four boys.
“The boys were rescued with the help of motor boat,” he said.

ALTAF BABA ADDS FROM BARAMULLA:
The torrential rains for last two days has resulted in panic among the people of Kawhar, Shumlran and adjoining villages and Salamabad in Uri area of Baramulla district because of apprehension of landslides.

Lastupdate on : Mon, 10 Sep 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Mon, 10 Sep 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Tue, 11 Sep 2012 00:00:00 IST