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NEW DELHI: Panic gripped the Kashmir Valley after continuous rainfall for the last 17 hours, with latest reports registering a rise in the Jhelum waters.
People panicked and left their homes although the authorities have still to sound an alert. Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed is said to be personally monitoring the situation even as a special ministerial team has rushed to the Valley to assess the threat.
According to the reports, hundreds of families living near the banks of the river Jhelum-- from Nayina to Lethpora area in South Kashmir's Pulwama district have started shifting to safer locations in view of the increase in water levels.
Reports are also pouring in from various corners along RambiFLO Ara river in Pulwama that the water level has increased and washed away many diversions along its way.
Roads leading to Srinagar, Anantnag, Rahmu, Tahab, Chatarpora, Payer and Pakharpora have been blocked.
Various areas of the district have been completely cut-off from the district headquarters, reports said.
Meanwhile due to heavy and continuous rains, flood water entered in villages of Wanidurusa and Magray Mohalla and people are demanding immediate help from government, reports said.
Amid rainfall, authorities have already issued landslide alerts and have asked people along in landslide prone areas to shift to safer places. The Jammu-Srinagar National Highway has been closed down.
The threat of fresh floods comes when the victims of the flash floods last year have not received adequate compensation, and many have yet to piece together their lives again. Businesses were destroyed, and homes have still to be rebuilt with the government refusing to declare the calamity a National Disaster.
