At least four people were killed and six injured in flash floods after heavy rain in Ghati village in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kathua district, officials said on Sunday. This comes just days after a similar incident caused by a cloudburst in Kishtwar claimed at least 60 lives.
A family was also feared buried under debris after a landslide hit a place called Juthana Jod near Ghati in the early hours of Sunday. It was around the same time that suspected cloudbursts struck Ghati, a remote village in Rajbagh area of the district, and two other locations nearby, snapping access to the village.
“The incidents occurred between 3.30 and 4 am,” said inspector Ajay Singh from the the police station of Rajbagh area, “Advance parties have reached the area.”
A joint team of the police and the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) has reached Ghati to join the locals in rescue efforts. Bodies of four persons were recovered while six were rescued in an injured condition, officials told PTI.
District police chief Shobhit Saxena confirmed the death toll and said, “There was no cloudburst, but there were flash floods. We have also informed the army; they are on a standby.”
A cloudburst, according to the Indian Meteorological Department, is a sudden downpour of over 100 mm of rain in just one hour. Technically, it was not immediately clear if the incident could be called a cloudburst.
Waterlogging at police station
Heavy rain led to sharp increase in the levels in Sahar Khad and Ujh rivers, officials told HT.
Railways tracks were damaged and traffic on the main roads, including the national highway in the area, was also affected. The police station at Kathua also saw major waterlogging.
Union minister Jitendra Singh also posted details on X, and wrote: “The civilian Administration, Military and Paramilitary has swung into action. The situation being continuously monitored.”
Landslides hit Bagard and Changda villages, too, under the jurisdiction of Kathua police station and Dilwan-Hutli in Lakhanpur police station area but there was no major report of damage, the news agency reported.
Earlier, at least 60 people, most of them pilgrims, were killed in flash floods on the Machail Mata Yatra route at Chasoti village in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kishtwar district on Thursday afternoon.
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