Threat of floods abates in Kashmir as rains relent
The flood threat abated in Kashmir as the weather improved across the Valley on Tuesday.
Throughout the day there were minimal rains, although river Jhelum had hit flood warning level in south Kashmir’s Pampore and capital Srinagar early on Tuesday owing to continuous rains from Friday till Monday midnight.
“The weather has improved considerably, though there can be light rains during the night. The water is receding, and things are coming back to normal,” said director of meteorological department in Srinagar, Mukhtar Ahmad.
As the rains relented, the water level in the river Jhelum came down below the flood warning mark at 4 pm in Srinagar while at Pampore, it came down below the warning mark at 7 pm.
Owing to the flood threat, the classwork across the schools up-to higher secondary level remained suspended while the authorities had established a flood control room to deal with any eventualities.
“Things have improved. The level of the river has come down below 18 feet. Though we were convinced that the river would peak today and will come down, but we took no chances and put in place a flood control room,” said deputy commissioner Srinagar, Bilal Mohiuddin Bhat.
Last night the rains lashed plains and light snowfall was reported in many mountainous areas.
The J&K disaster management authority issued an avalanche warning for the three districts of Kashmir.
“Avalanche with medium danger level is likely to occur above 2,500 metres over Bandipora, Kupwara and Ganderbal districts in next 24 hours,” the J&KDMA said in an advisory.
“People living in these areas are advised to take precautions, avoid venturing in the avalanche prone areas and evacuate from unprotected settlements near the avalanche path,” it said.
The MeT office said that barring light rains on Tuesday night, the weather is going to improve from Wednesday.
The flood situation in the northern district of Kupwara, where some 56 villages were affected by flash floods and overflowing of Pohru stream, has started to improve.