Rain Fury Kills 11 More in J&K As Toll Rises To 23; HP Shuts Schools
Mud house buried in landslide in Loran village; rain-related death toll in Poonch rises to 17.
Srinagar, Shimla: Intense monsoon rain triggered flash floods, landslides and rockfalls across Jammu and Kashmir on Monday, killing at least 11 people and taking the toll over two days to 23, while a red alert prompted the closure of educational institutions in three Himachal Pradesh districts.
In the worst incident, seven people, including three women and two children, were killed when a rain-induced landslide buried a mud house at Dhok Domail in Loran village of Poonch district.
Poonch and neighbouring Rajouri have been battered by heavy rain since Saturday, with flash floods and landslides killing 17 people in the two border districts. Six people remain missing as rescue teams search inundated villages and areas cut off by damaged roads.
Two people were killed and seven injured after a boulder rolled down a hill near Raggi Nallah and struck a passenger bus on the Jammu-Kishtwar highway in Doda district. The highway was closed because of continuing rockfalls and landslides.
A woman was killed by a falling rock near her house at Kashtigarh, while the body of a man swept away in flash floods was recovered in Rajouri’s Salani area.
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah announced an ex gratia of ₹6 lakh each for the families of those killed in Poonch and Rajouri. The assistance comprises ₹4 lakh from the State Disaster Response Fund and ₹2 lakh from the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund.
Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha said personnel from the NDRF, SDRF, J&K Police and the Army had been deployed in vulnerable areas. Some key roads in Poonch, Rajouri, Reasi and Udhampur have been reopened, while work to restore water supplies is underway.
The weather department issued a red alert for parts of Jammu and Kashmir, warning of heavy to extremely heavy rain, flash floods, overflowing rivers and landslides over the next three days. Civil defence personnel were deployed near bridges, rivers and other vulnerable water bodies to prevent people from entering flood-prone areas.
In neighbouring Himachal Pradesh, authorities ordered all educational institutions in Kangra, Mandi and Sirmaur districts to remain closed on July 20 and 21 following a red alert.
The closure covers schools, colleges, anganwadi centres and vocational and technical institutions. Examinations scheduled in Kangra were postponed. Residential institutions, including IIT Mandi and medical colleges, were exempted from the closure order in Mandi.
A high-intensity flash flood in Tubar Nallah along the Sangla-Chitkul route in Kinnaur district damaged a bridge and blocked a strategically important road connecting Army and ITBP forward posts near the Tibet border.
Himachal chief secretary Kamlesh Kumar Pant directed district administrations to keep emergency operation centres active round the clock and deploy quick-response teams in areas vulnerable to cloudbursts, flash floods and landslides. People were advised to avoid unnecessary travel and stay away from rivers, streams and landslide-prone slopes.
