The flood fury unleashed more death and destruction in Jammu and Kashmir, claiming the lives of nearly 150 people so far and leaving many marooned. The swirling waters have damaged buildings and snapped road and communication links, cutting off many areas.
The Army cantonment, Civil Secretariat and the High Court in Srinagar have also been inundated. Stepping up the relief efforts, Indian Air Force has pressed 29 planes and helicopters into service, set up a disaster monitoring cell and alerted all its bases to a high state of readiness. PTI reports that about 12,500 people have been rescued from various areas of Jammu by teams of Army and Air Force till now. But many more people were trapped.
The Indian Air Force today airlifted 180 jawans who were posted at various border area posts along flood-affected Indo-Pak border in Jammu sector. Floods have inundated most the stretches of border fencing and trapped BSF jawans in Border outposts and also Army jawans in forward posts along Indo-Pak border in Jammu and Samba sectors.
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said this is an unprecedented situation and the state government is doing its best under the circumstances. He said the water level in Jammu was decreasing and the situation is slowly going back to normalcy while in the Kashmir the situation has become worse. Especially the situation is still bad in Srinagar.
Meanwhile, Seventy boats and five teams of the National Disaster Response Force have been sent to Jammu and Kashmir for the rescue and relief of flood-affected people. The decision was taken by Home Minister Rajnath Singh today after reviewing the flood situation in the state. The Home Minister has also appealed to all social organisations and NGOs to mobilise their resources to bolster the rescue efforts .
As the number of shelter-less people is rising, Army is also providing tented accommodation to hundreds of people. Mata Vaishnodevi shrine yatra remained suspended for the fourth consecutive day in view of the heavy rains with authorities saying the pilgrimage would resume only after the weather improves.
