SRINAGAR: Over 13500 residential houses were damaged in recent floods in Jammu and Kashmir, rendering thousands of families homeless. In view of the large scale of destruction, Omar Abdullah government would seek a relief package for flood affected people from the central government.
The heavy floods caused large-scale devastation across Jammu and Kashmir. The floods claimed 155 lives while 33 are still missing.
The Jammu region was worst hit by the floods caused by incessant and torrential rains. According to Divisional Commissioner Jammu, Ramesh Kumar, the floods claimed the lives of 150 people and left 178 others injured in the region.
In the Chesoti village of Kishtwar, where the cloudburst caused by heavy rains triggered flash floods on August 14, 33 people are still missing. 70 people have been killed in the cloudburst in the village.
“Over 12800 residential houses were damaged in the Jammu region. Of them 4200 houses were fully damaged while over 8,600 were partially damaged,” the Divisional Commissioner said.
Due to the floods, crops on over 1,300 hectares of land were damaged.
“Over 2,700 km of roads were damaged by the floods. Many bridges were damaged and rendered unsafe for commuting. Over 49,000 power distribution transformers were hit and more than 2,000 water supply works were damaged,” Ramesh said.
The floods damaged roads, bridges, culverts and other infrastructure in Jammu and Kashmir. Even the 270 kms long Srinagar-Jammu national highway, the only road link connecting Kashmir with the rest of the country, remained closed for traffic for over a fortnight due to damage caused to the road by heavy rains.
In Kashmir, four persons died due to floods, Divisional Commissioner Kashmir, Anshul Garg said.
About 870 residential houses were damaged in the floods in the Valley. Of them 16 houses were fully damaged, 57 damaged and 791 partially damaged.
“Eighty-seven bridges and culverts were also damaged in the Valley of which more than half has been restored. Out of 563 water supply schemes affected by the floods in the Valley, 385 have been fully restored while work is underway on the rest,” Garg said.
After the massive floods, the administration is conducting safety audits of school buildings which remained under the water.
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has directed district authorities to reconcile figures with departments to arrive at accurate figures of damages by floods so that a consolidated proposal could be submitted to the Government of India for a comprehensive restoration package.
The CM has urged the Modi government to provide a relief package to J&K so that people affected by floods can be compensated adequately.
