Flood threat displaces over 13,000 in Valley

Azhar Qadri

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, April 5

Hundreds of residents of central Kashmir have been displaced by heavy rain which threatened to unleash floods and landslides, officials here said. The officials said more than 13,000 residents in central Kashmir’s Srinagar and Budgam districts had to evacuate their homes after stormy weather this week caused heavy rain across the region.

Most of the evacuations took place in Budgam district, where 88 villages faced the threat of landslides.

An official in the district administration Budgam said 1,946 families comprising 12,200 people had to move to safer locations this week.

“As many as 533 families are staying in government buildings, 363 families are staying in tents, others are putting at religious places and with relatives and neighbours,” said a senior official in Budgam.

Budgam district saw the first casualties of the recent inclement weather when 16 people were buried alive under a landslide at Laden village, causing panic among the residents in the landslide-prone areas there.

The worst-hit areas in Budgam district, which faced the threat of landslides, include the Khan Sahib constituency where 40 villages have been affected and Budgam where 15 villages have been affected.

In Srinagar district, the officials said, 1,100 people had to evacuate, of which nearly 400 are still staying at relief camps set up by the administration. Most of the evacuations took place from low-lying localities and the peripheries of the Dal Lake.

“Some 400 people from areas located near to the Dal Lake are still staying (in camps). The water level in the lake is still high. We are expecting improvement from tomorrow as all gates (of the lake) have been opened,” said Farooq Lone, Srinagar Deputy Commissioner.