Monday, March 30, 2015

Flooding in Kashmir, India, Triggers Mudslides, Burying At Least 10 People

Sean Breslin
Published: March 30,2015




 
Flood waters began to recede in parts of India's Kashmir region, where least 10 people were buried alive when flooding triggered mudslides just six months after the area saw its worst flooding in a century.
"Water level in Jhelum which had touched the flood levels at Sangam and Ram Munshi Bagh is showing a declining or static trend,” an official spokesman for the state government told local media.
Seven bodies have been pulled from the mud in the Budgam district, and as many as 13 more are feared dead in the slide, according to the Indian Express. Slush from the mountains caused two homes in the district to collapse, trapping 16 people, the report added.
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The heavy rain forced hundreds to evacuate the area, and the National Disaster Response Force was sent to the region to help with the serious situation, NDTV.com reported.
With parts of the region underwater and hundreds of families scattered due to evacuations, schools in the area were canceled Monday and Tuesday, according to DNA India. Home Minister Rajnath Singh told a local official that relief materials are being flown into the area to help the victims, the report added.


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Heavy rain triggers landslide, Jammu-Srinagar highway blocked in Udhampur (J&K)

"March has been the wettest month in more than a century, wrecking millions of hectares of winter crops," said a Reuters report. Several rural farmers have committed suicide in recent weeks due to the crop loss, the report also said.
Local meteorologists have warned residents that the heavy rains are likely to continue, though they aren't expected to be as intense, Time reported.
Some 200 people died and nearly 1 million people were displaced for several weeks when the Kashmir valley saw its worst flooding in more than 100 years back in September, Reuters added.

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