Jammu and Kashmir flood: Two houses sink, 16 feared trapped; 100 NDRF personnel rushed to Valley
New Delhi/Srinagar: People in Jammu and Kashmir were advised to move to safety on Monday morning after the state government declared flood following incessant rainfall.
The meteorological department has predicted more rains over the next six days. The state government has setup relief camps and people on the banks of Jhelum River has been evacuated.
Two NDRF teams comprising 100 personnel have been rushed as part of contingency measures in Jammu and Kashmir, where Jhelum River crossed the danger level in Srinagar and Sangam area of South Kashmir.
According to police, two houses have sunk at Chadoora area in Budgam district of Kashmir with 16 people feared trapped.
The two National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams, comprising about 50 personnel each, were taken in an IAF plane from Bhatinda in Punjab to Srinagar.
"We have pre-positioned two of our teams in the Kashmir Valley in order to combat any situation in the wake of flood alert.
"Four other teams at Ghaziabad and Bhatinda will be on standby," NDRF Director General O P Singh said.
The DG said there was no need to panic and the force along with the state government is putting in all measures to tackle a possible flood situation.
"There is no flooding as of now. There is some water logging in areas of Kashmir Valley. It is good news that there have been no rains for a couple of hours now in the state," he said.
However, the IMD has predicted rains in the next 2-3 days.
Read: Centre to send 8 more NDRF teams to assist the flood situation in Kashmir
"The situation is not bad and we are all ready to tackle any situation," he said.
Singh said the teams which have been airlifted are equipped with communication, rescue and retrieval gadgets as per the standard operating procedures to combat flood situations, he said.
The NDRF had played a vital role along other defence forces in undertaking massive relief and rescue operations last year when Kashmir Valley was inundated in the worst-ever floods in the history of the state.
People have begun moving to higher reaches as water enters houses in low lying areas of Kashmir, avalanche warning. (Photo: ANI Twitter)
Meanwhile, PM Narendra Modi has sent a high-level team of officials along with MoS for Minority Affairs, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi to assess the flood situation in the Valley.
Heavy rain triggers landslide, Jammu-Srinagar highway blocked in Udhampur. (Photo: ANI Twitter)
In September 2014, the Kashmir region witnessed disastrous floods across many of its districts, triggered by torrential rainfall.
According to official figures, 390 villages were completely submerged. Over 300 people were killed in the state in one of the worst floods in hundred years.
