By Shivani P Menon
Rain showered shooting stones, and landslides in Jammu & Kashmir’s Ramban district and the Srinagar-Jammu highway was closed. Hundreds of cars were stuck on the road. The Kishtwar-Anantnag road was closed due to rain and landslides.
Due to the flash floods and landslides typical of the region, ten districts of Jammu province have also closed their schools.
During periods of inclement weather, the closure is a matter of safety. Until the road is cleared and weather conditions improve, individuals have been asked to avoid the road. Besides at Monkey Morh and in the Maroog sector of Ramban district, rains have resulted in landslips on the national highway alongside the Sharda Mata temple in Udhampur district.
In the wake of reports of firing stones at various points, officials have announced the closure of the Jammu–Srinagar National Highway.
The authorities cited sustained heavy rain along the road stretch as having increased the risk of falling boulders and thereby necessitated precautionary closure of the road.
In the midst of a prolonged search for the remains of individuals who went missing during Thursday’s cloudburst in Kishtwar, the weather office forecasted rain for 24 hours.
More than 80 people are estimated to be buried beneath massive boulders and dense mud, and the disaster has so far claimed over 60 lives. In Kishtwar’s remote Padder region, hundreds of workers, with the help of heavy equipment, are labouring day and night to dig up bodies from debris.
There was a cloudburst in the Kathua district too on Sunday, claiming the lives of seven people—five of them children. The cloudburst resulted in flash floods that destroyed some residential homes as well as broke rail tracks and highways.
The Jammu-Srinagar National Highway is the only year-round connectivity between the Kashmir Valley and the rest of India, and frequent closure due to stone-pelting and landslides hampers the movement and transportation of essential goods. The addition of the Vande Bharat train facility to the landlocked Valley has significantly reduced the unexpected tribulations precipitated by the frequent shutdown of the highway in winter and rainy seasons.