JAMMU: Flash floods following heavy rainfall hit Kathua and Samba districts of Jammu region where a man was feared drowned and 15 people, most of them belonging to a nomadic community, were rescued on Saturday, officials said.
Two siblings were washed away on Saturday morning when they tried to cross an overflowing stream on their way home at Kameela village in Vijaypur area of Samba district, a police official said.
He said while 30-year-old Nadiyal was rescued by locals and shifted to a hospital, his elder brother Sain Lal remained untraced and was feared drowned.
The body was not recovered so far despite a rescue operation by local police and SDRF personnel.
Eleven people, belonging to a nomadic community, were stuck in flash floods in Ujh river in Rajbagh area and were subsequently rescued by Kathua police along with SDRF personnel, the official said.
The rescued people were shifted to a safer location, he added.
In another rescue operation near the Ujh river, policemen saved three more members of the community near Pandori village in Kathua district, the official said.
Heavy rains lashed several parts of Jammu region, raising water level in major rivers, including in the Tawi, and leaving some low-lying areas submerged.
Katra, the famous town which serves as the base camp for the pilgrims visiting Vaishno Devi shrine in Reasi district, recorded the highest 133.
4 mm rainfall since Friday night, a metrological department spokesperson said.
He said Jammu recorded 27.8 mm rainfall since Friday night but the data for the rainfall during the day was not available.
The mercury in most parts of Jammu and Kashmir nose dived due to the torrential rains, with Jammu recording a high of 26.6 degrees Celsius -- 6.7 notches below normal during this time of the season, the spokesperson said, adding that the night temperature was near normal at 24.4 degrees Celsius.
Katra recorded a maximum of 24.3 degrees Celsius and a minimum of 22.8 degrees Celsius, while Srinagar -- which witnessed light intermittent rains -- recorded a high of 21.9 degrees Celsius , 7.8 degrees below normal, and a low of 15.9 degrees Celsius.