<\/p>\n
JAMMU, July 23: Relentless rainfall continued to batter Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday, triggering landslides, flash floods and widespread damage that forced the closure of the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway for the second consecutive day. The prolonged wet spell has severely affected road connectivity, disrupted normal life and intensified rescue operations across several districts.<\/p>\n
Officials said at least 23 people have lost their lives, while seven others remain missing in rain-related incidents reported over the past few days. Search and rescue operations are underway in the worst-affected districts of Poonch and Rajouri, where teams from the civil administration, Police, SDRF, NDRF and other emergency agencies are working round the clock to locate the missing and assist affected residents.<\/p>\n
The 250-kilometre Jammu-Srinagar National Highway, the Valley’s primary all-weather road link, remains blocked at multiple locations between Jakhani in Udhampur and Banihal in Ramban due to landslides, shooting stones and road erosion. Continuous rainfall has slowed restoration work, with heavy machinery engaged in clearing debris and repairing damaged stretches.<\/p>\n
Traffic authorities have advised the public to avoid travelling on the highway until weather conditions improve and the route is officially declared safe. More than 600 vehicles are reportedly stranded at different locations, including Jammu, Nagrota, Samba, Lakhanpur, Udhampur and Ramban.<\/p>\n
Several other roads across the region have also been affected. The Doda-Kishtwar Road remains closed due to landslides, while many inter-district roads continue to be blocked by mudslides and damaged road surfaces. However, the Mughal Road and the Srinagar-Sonamarg-Gumri (SSG) Road remain open for traffic, although commuters have been advised to exercise caution because of ongoing rainfall.<\/p>\n
The Meteorological Department has forecast moderate to heavy rainfall across parts of Jammu and Kashmir through Thursday evening and warned of another spell of rain on Friday under the influence of an active western disturbance. Districts including Samba, Kathua, Udhampur and the Chenab Valley are expected to receive fresh showers.<\/p>\n
Authorities said rivers and streams across the Jammu region continue to flow at high levels. Earlier, the Chenab River at Akhnoor and the Tawi River in Jammu crossed the danger mark, prompting officials to issue safety advisories and strengthen monitoring in vulnerable areas. Flash floods have inundated several low-lying localities, damaging homes, shops, roads, bridges, electricity infrastructure and water supply systems.<\/p>\n
The administration said restoration of essential services, relief distribution and damage assessment remain its immediate priorities as rescue teams continue operations in affected districts.<\/p>\n
According to the latest rainfall data, Reasi recorded the highest precipitation in the Union Territory with 119.5 mm, followed by Katra (97.4 mm), Ramban (71.5 mm), Jammu (60.6 mm), Batote (60.4 mm), Udhampur (53.2 mm), Banihal (53.0 mm), Jammu Airport (42.6 mm), Rajouri (32.6 mm), Kathua (22.2 mm), Doda (15.0 mm), Bhaderwah (14.0 mm), Kishtwar (12.0 mm) and Poonch (11.0 mm).<\/p>\n
In Kashmir, Qazigund received the highest rainfall at 73.3 mm, followed by Pahalgam (60.2 mm), Kokernag (47.9 mm), Gulmarg (39.0 mm), Sangam (37.0 mm), Verinag (35.3 mm), Awantipora (31.2 mm), Baramulla (30.5 mm), Kulgam (24.2 mm), Tangmarg (22.2 mm), Pampore (20.0 mm), Handwara (18.6 mm), Ganderbal (18.0 mm), Shopian (17.0 mm), Lolab (16.4 mm), Srinagar (15.6 mm), Pulwama (14.2 mm), Wular (14.0 mm), Sonamarg (13.0 mm), Sopore (12.0 mm), Kupwara (6.9 mm) and Charar-i-Sharief (6.6 mm).<\/p>\n
Leh in Ladakh recorded 0.6 mm of rainfall.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
JAMMU, July 23: Relentless rainfall continued to batter Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday, triggering landslides, flash floods and widespread damage that forced the closure of the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway for the second consecutive day. The prolonged wet spell has severely affected road connectivity, disrupted normal life and intensified rescue operations across several districts. Officials […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1362,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22,23,36],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1361","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jammu","category-kashmir","category-weather"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/khabarbazjk.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1361","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/khabarbazjk.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/khabarbazjk.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/khabarbazjk.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/khabarbazjk.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1361"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/khabarbazjk.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1361\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1363,"href":"https:\/\/khabarbazjk.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1361\/revisions\/1363"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/khabarbazjk.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1362"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/khabarbazjk.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1361"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/khabarbazjk.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1361"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/khabarbazjk.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1361"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}