JAMMU/SRINAGAR, Feb 28: A mother and her son were killed as a boulder from a hillock amidst rain fell on them in Moungri area of Udhampur, two women and a child were washed away in flooded Suran river late last evening while the dead body of a retired Animal husbandry employee, who went missing in the river after accident at Kalai in Poonch last night was recovered from Poonch river today, 12 people were rescued from flooded rivers -Ujh and Tawi while Jammu-Srinagar Natioinal Highway and Batote- Kishtwar highway besides many other link roads have been closed due to heavy snowfall and landslides after heavy rain across Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh regions.Official sources said that more than 5000 vehicles have been stranded at various places along Jammu-Srinagar National Highway since yesterday. Batote-Kishtwar Highway has been blocked at least at three-four places including Ragi Nallah, Puldoda and Kandni area.Mehar, Cafeteria Morh, Dalwas, Panthyal and Kishtwari Pather have become major problematic areas for the National Highway authorities along the Ramban-Banihal axis.
Heavy snowfall and rain of the season has been experienced across Kashmir and Jammu region besides many parts of Ladakh region during past 24 hours. Over a dozen houses have reportedly been damaged in Ramban, Doda, Udhampur and Reasi areas since last evening. 13 cattle perished due to lightning in Darhal and Koteranka areas of district Rajouri due to lightning on Friday.
The hills of Kashmir received heavy snowfall with Srinagar and other parts of the Valley receiving light overnight snow affecting the air traffic in the morning today.
The Meteorological Centre Srinagar said the ski resort of Gulmarg received the highest accumulation of 60.0 cm of snowfall followed by the tourist resort of Pahalgam 23.0 cm and Qazigund 17.0cm, Kupwara 15 cm and Srinagar 3.4 cm, respectively, during the past 24 hours.
The flight operations remained suspended this morning due to overnight snowfall at Srinagar Airport. The operations resumed after the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) cleared the snow from the runway and improvement in the visibility allowed a flight SG 937 from Delhi to land at 11.12 am.
The Airport Director, Javid Anjum said that two flights were cancelled and other flights were delayed.
An official said that the Srinagar-Sonamarg-Gumri road connecting Ladakh Union Territory remained closed due to accumulation of snowfall occurring across the Kashmir valley during the past 24 hours.
The BRO responsible for the maintenance of the highway have pressed its men and machinery to clear the snow from the high to make it traffic worthy.
Reports from Udhampur said that a mother and her young son died due to falling of boulder from a mountain when they were travelling on a bike in Moungri area of Pancheri amidst rain.
The deceased have been identified as Shano Devi (52) wife of Badrum resident of village Lalli in Tehsil Moungri and his 24 year old son Raghu. They were on their way from Moungri to Lalli on Motorcycle bearing registration number JK14K-0780. The mishap took place near village Thanni .
Locals rushed to the spot and took the seriously injured persons to PHC Moungri doctors gave them treatment but they died during treatment.
Reports from Poonch said dead body of a person who was missing along with few others after accident at Kalai late last evening, was today recovered from the Poonch river. During search operation along the river, the body of one of the victims was recovered today.
Officials said that a Xylo vehicle bearing registration number JK02BA-2625 slipped into the river during heavy rain near Kalai bridge in Poonch. Seven persons were rescued by police from this vehicle but 3-4 went missing and were washed away in the river.
The search operation was launched during early morning today which was going on till this evening. The body of the person was found lying at the river bank near Dingla bridge. The police shifted it to District Hospital Poonch. The deceased was identified as Abdul Aziz (62), son of Faiz Hussain, resident of Phagla village in Surankote.
The authorities said that two women and a child who were also washed away in the river at the accident site at Kalai area are still missing. A massive manhunt was still on to search for their bodies, the officials said.
Reports from Doda said that a residential house collapsed in the Shinkly area of Dessa due to heavy rainfall. The house belonged to Balkrishan, son of the Late Dina Nath, a resident of Ward No. 7, Panchayat Manjmi in Tehsil Bhagwah.
Fortunately, no loss of life or injuries were reported as the residents managed to escape in time. However, the structure suffered significant damage, rendering it uninhabitable. Local authorities and residents rushed to the spot to assess the situation.
Another Kucha house collapsed in Rajgarh area of Ramban, however, no loss of life has been received.
In Mahore and Chassana area of Reasi at least four houses were partially/ fully damaged today. Reports of damage to at least six muddy houses/ cattle-shed have also been received from Rajouri and Udhampur area. The houses of Mohd Iqbal, Manzoor Ahmed, Mohd Hussain and Kamal Din collapsed in Sildhar, Narh and Budhnad area of Mahore.
Due to cracks on Domial-Katra road the traffic was diverted via Penthal to Katra. Helicopter and battery car service to Katra Mata Vaishnodevi shrine was suspended today again due to bad weather and rain. Reasi- Mahore-Chassana, Mahore Gool and Gulabgarh roads were also closed due to landslides and snowfall. Batote-Kishtwar and Padder road also remained closed today, following landsldies at several places.
Natha Top, Patnitop, and higher reaches of Poonch, Doda, Udhampur, Ramban, Kishtwar and Rajouri received heavy snowfall. Even Bhaderwah and Kishtwar towns received about 4-5 inches of snowfall. Higher Reaches of Trikuta hills of Mata Vaishnodevi including Bhairon Ghati also received fresh snowfall.
As river Tawi was over-flooded a dumper driver trapped in a flash flood in Niki Tawi near Shiva Stone Crusher was successfully rescued by police along with State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) in a swift operation early this morning.
A police official said around 5:40 AM, Satwari Police Station received information that a dumper had been submerged due to a sudden rise in water levels.
The driver, identified as Mohan Lal, son of Salik Ram from Gole Gujral, was stranded on the cabin roof, struggling for survival, he said.
Accordingly, he said, senior officers were immediately alerted, and rescue operation was launched.
Under the operation, a police team led by PSI Balbir Singh, Incharge of Phallayein Mandal Police Post, reached the site, assessed the situation, and reassured the driver, he said.
The SDRF team, led by ASI Om Parkash, was quickly requisitioned. With coordinated efforts, the team rescued the driver from the middle of the river, the official said.
Reports from Kathua said that SDRF team rescued 11 labourers/employees of Megha Construction Company trapped in the flood in Ujh river at construction site during early hours today.
A SDRF team led by DSP Raghubir Singh got information and immediately rushed to the Ujh river spot and launched rescue operation. The team rescued all the trapped persons and shifted them to safer place.
Inspector of SDRF Pardeep Kumar told that as soon as they got the information, they rushed to site and started rescue operation. The rescued persons were identified as Vinod Gopha from Jharkhand, Shovid Kumar Saharanpur, Mausin Malik-Saharanpur, Sonu Malik from Saharanpur, Sarvar Malik from Sharanpur, Naseer Khurshid from Saharanpur, Sunil Kissan from Jharkhand, Anoop Bohra from Jharkhand, Farman Ahmed from Saharanpur, Jassan Malik from Saharanpur and Security Guard Babu Ram from Khanpur in Kathua.
The water level in Ujh river was high due to heavy rainfall in the upper reaches.
The traffic was jammed on busy Jammu-Pathankot National Highway for about five hours at Sakta Chack when a truck was trapped in a deep gorge on Highway and traffic was blocked. The local people told that the National Highway Authority of India did not fill the deep gorge on highway raised due to construction of highway and it was filled with rain water.
During the mid night due to poor visibility, the truck fell into deep gorge and traffic was suspended on the Highway. The vehicle drivers faced inconvenience and waited for five hours to get the road cleared. It happened due to negligence of Highway construction company.
Due to two days of wet spell followed by snowfall since morning in Doda region, the deficit rainfall has reduced to 69 per cent compared to 83 per cent last week in Jammu and Kashmir, much to the relief of residents especially agriculturalist, orchardists and those associated with tourism.
Jammu and Kashmir has recorded an 83 percent rainfall deficit in the first 50 days of 2025, raising serious concerns over a severe water crisis in the coming months.
After two days of rainfall, on Friday morning entire Doda region especially, Bhadarwah valley received moderate to heavy snowfall due to which, the precipitation deficit has reduced from above 70 per cent to 48 per cent in Doda and Kishtwar districts of Jammu division, revealed the data.
It is worth mentioning that the prolonged dry spell earlier in J&K was threatening a drought-like situation this summer. The fast melting glaciers in Doda region especially Ashapati and Kailash glaciers also raised concerns.
Met office said that Batote received the highest of 163,7 mm rainfalls during last 24 hours, followed by 118.6 mm by Katra. Banihal received 100.4 mm rainfall, 77.4 mm by Jammu and 72.0 mm by Bhaderwah town during past 24 hours.
A sharp fall in the temperatures has been recorded by these towns of Jammu region today. Banihal and Batore recorded lowest temperature of 0 deg C, Bhaderwah -0.2 deg C, Katra 8.8 deg C while Jammu 11.5 deg C temperature on Friday.
Director Meteorological department (Met), Dr Mukhtar Ahmad said: “There is a forecast of light rain and snow at isolated to scattered places till March 2 while light to moderate rain and snow is expected at many places on March 3.”
“The weather will remain generally dry in J&K from March 4 to March 8,” he added.
Meanwhile, in its advisory, the Met said that temporary disruption of surface transportation is expected mainly over Sadhna pass, Razdan Pass, Sonamarg-Zojila-Gumri axis, Mughal Road, Sinthan pass & other major roads of hilly districts in the coming days.
Tourists, travelers and transporters are advised to plan accordingly & follow administration and traffic advisory, it read, adding that the farmers are advised to suspend irrigation & other farm operations.
Landslides, mudslides and shooting stones are likely at vulnerable places, it read and added that there is a possibility of snow avalanches over higher reaches.
The maximum temperature remained 3 to 6°C below normal in many parts of Kashmir valley.
Srinagar recorded a low of sub-zero temperature and it was 1.0°C below normal for the place. The day temperature recorded today was 6.4°C and this was 5.6°C below normal.
The lowest -2.0°C was recorded at the ski resort of Gulmarg in Kashmir valley.
Reports from Leh said that in a much-needed relief to farmers in the cold desert of the northernmost strategic region of the country, the entire Ladakh region received heavy to very heavy snowfall on Friday.
There are reports of more than 3 feet of snowfall in many villages in Zanskar. In Leh district, snowfall has been widespread, covering areas from Changthang to Nubra to the Sham region, with snowfall ranging from four inches to one foot.
According to Punchok Tashi, Executive Councillor of the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council, Kargil, villages like Akshow, Abran, Hemiling, Remala, Skygam, Phey, and Ating received over three feet of snowfall.
The Meteorological Department of Ladakh has forecasted a gradual decrease in snowfall intensity from Friday evening, with dry conditions expected on Saturday and Sunday. Snow clearance operations were carried out in both Leh and Kargil districts by their respective administrations. However, major roads and mountain passes remained closed due to the heavy snowfall. Key routes like the Khardungla Pass between Leh and Nubra and the Changla Pass between Leh and the Durbuk Sub Division of Changthang remained shut.
The strategic Leh-Srinagar National Highway-1, which remained open for a record duration this winter until February 26, was finally closed on Thursday due to heavy snowfall. The Kargil-Zanskar highway also got blocked because of the snowfall.
