Ganderbal: Flash flood triggered by possible cloudburst in the upper reaches occurred in Kullan area of Kangan in central Kashmir’s Ganderbal district on Tuesday blocking the Srinagar-Leh highway for traffic. The flash flood in the nallah snaking through Shah Mohalla Kullan occurred due to a possible cloudburst early Tuesday morning.
Locals said that the floodwaters entered into a few nearby houses. However, there are no reports of any loss of life or damage to property. The flash floods also resulted in the closure of Srinagar-Leh highway near Kullan, due to which traffic remains suspended on both sides of the highway.
Later Beacon pressed its men and machinery to clear the road after which the traffic was restored.
Deputy commissioner Ganderbal, Shyambir Singh along with Tehsildar Gund, Javid Iqbal besides other officials visited the area. People took up the demand of construction of a bridge and protection wall with Deputy Commissioner Ganderbal.
DC Ganderbal assured them that the matter will be looked into and resolved.
Meanwhile, the families who are living nearby localities where flash floods occurred have urged the district administration to construct a bridge at the place besides construction of a concrete protection wall alongside the nallah prone to flash floods.
Atleast five residential houses besides a huge area of agricultural field suffered damage due to the flash floods caused by a cloud burst triggered by heavy rains in Kulan area of Kangan in Ganderbal district two years back.
“We have been suffering from such damage for several years now. Whenever there are rains the nallah flowing alongside Shah Mohallah Kullan is flooded,” said Fayaz Ahmed, a local resident.
He said that a culvert constructed in the vicinity gets blocked by the rocks and trees uprooted by flash floods and the water overflows and enters nearby houses causing massive damage to the property. Besides, there always remains a threat to life.
Another local said that they have many times urged administration to excavate boulders from nallah so that its width and depth is increased and water carrying capacity is increased. He said that a bridge should be constructed in place of a culvert so that water flows through it easily.
Tehsildar Gund, Javid Iqbal told Greater Kashmir that a report will be submitted to the higher authorities for a permanent solution to the issue. He said that necessary measures will be taken so that any loss or damage is prevented during such incidents in future.
Meanwhile, flash floods triggered by heavy rains and cloudbursts have caused massive damage to the property and agricultural land in several areas of Sankoo Sub Division of Kargil district in Ladakh Union Territory. However there has been no loss of life reported so far due to flash floods.
According to the reports, the flash floods have damaged residential houses, washed away roads and bridges, inundated agricultural fields in several including Karkit Khunda, Achambur and Stakpa .
Social activist from Kargil Sajad Hussain Kargili said that he visited flood hit village of Karkit Khunda, Achambur in the Kargil district, a large area of agricultural land, Middle school building hit by flood.
” In Achambur Kargil flood has washed away huge area of agricultural Land. There is a need for a protection bandh at Shaksgal Nala as the Nala is flood and avalanche prone in both winter and summer season” Sajjad said. He urged the LG administration to provide immediate relief to the affected people. Locals said that there is immediate need to restore essential services including road connectivity besides health teams should be dispatched to these flood affected areas to prevent any spread of disease.
Chairman and Chief Executive Councillor (CEC), LAHDC, Kargil, Feroz Ahmad Khan visited the flood-affected villages of Sankoo Sub Division.
During the visit, the CEC assured to convene an emergency meeting with all the concerned district officers, Border Road Organisation and their stakeholders to take necessary action in all flood-affected villages.
CEC inspected the flood-affected villages of Achambur and Stakpa where he instructed the concerned officers to immediately restore essential services like road, irrigation canals, electricity and drinking water.
“Various departments are already on the job at the flood sites with machinery and workforce in order to restore essential services for the people” he said. CEC instructed the concerned officials to install protection walls in flood-prone areas to mitigate risk in future. Both at Achambur and Stakpa, CEC Khan also assured to clean the silt from the stream to avoid any loss in the future.
It was further informed that projects for Nala Trailing has been already reflected in the SDP for Stakpa, Lankarchay, Khawos and other flood-prone villages.
The CEC further assured to take up the issue of construction of temporary and permanent bridge at Stakpa with the Chief Engineer Project VIJAYAK to restore road connectivity to Umba. He also gave a patient hearing to grievances of the public and assured necessary action.
The CEC was accompanied by Executive Councillor for Zanskar Affairs, Er Phunsuk Tashi, ACD Ghulam Mohammad, SDM Sankoo, CAO Kacho Mohammad Ali Khan, Executive Engineer I&FC Shabbir Hussain, Executive Engineer SVD Sankoo Syed Mehdi, Executive Engineer Mechanical, Executive Engineer REW, and officials of other departments.
Meanwhile, after witnessing a scorching heat wave for the last over a week, the rainfall on Tuesday brough respite to the whole Valley breaking the intense cycle of the heat wave in Kashmir.
On Tuesday, the Valley woke up to rains lashing plains and upper reaches. It was after days that the temperature went down below normal giving respite to people from the scorching heat.
The Meteorological Department (MeT) has predicted intermittent light to moderate rain at many places of J&K during the next 24 to 36 hours.
Deputy Director MeT Department, Mukhtar Ahmed told Greater Kashmir that in the coming 24 hours Kashmir is likely to receive more rain.
“Both Kashmir valley and Jammu will receive more rain by Wednesday afternoon. Kashmir is likely to receive a rain spell from Tuesday evening till late night. Jammu will receive more rainfall on the morning of Wednesday,” he said.
The official said that a weather advisory has been issued as more rainfall can trigger flash floods in some areas due to the active nature of the monsoon.
After Tuesday’s rainfall, the temperatures dipped below 30 degrees in Kashmir after a week. The Kashmir valley recorded high temperatures of over 34 degrees for many days.
Since the last one week, Kashmir continued to swelter under a heat wave with the Summer capital Srinagar recording the season’s hottest day at 34.2°C. With this, in the past few days, the temperature in Srinagar hit the third highest in the last 12 years.
As per the MeT department, after light to moderate spell of rainfall on Tuesday that brought down temperatures, Srinagar recorded 26.9 degrees Celsius which is 3.3 degrees below normal. Night temperatures were recorded in Srinagar at 20.8 degrees Celsius. South Kashmir’s Pahalgam recorded 23.1 degrees Celsius of day temperature and a minimum temperature of 15.6 degrees Celsius. The ski-resort in north Kashmir, Gulmarg recorded a maximum temperature of 18.8 degrees Celsius and a minimum of 13 degrees Celsius.
As per the MeT department, Jammu recorded a maximum of 35.9 degrees Celsius and a minimum of 26.8 degrees Celsius. Jammu’s Batote recorded a maximum of 29.1 and a minimum of 21 degrees Celsius. Ladakh division’s Leh recorded maximum temperatures of 28.6 degrees Celsius and a minimum of 15.5 degrees Celsius. Given the prediction of rain in the next 24 hours, MeT center Srinagar issued a weather advisory across J&K.
“There’s already lots of water in local streams, rivers etc. due to melting of glaciers etc. Addition of rain water in these streams often generate flash flood, mudslide etc. People are advised to remain cautious and avoid venturing near such places which are vulnerable to flash flood etc,” reads the advisory.
( With inputs from Auqib Salam in Srinagar)