Jammu:
Jammu and Kashmir government today declared a flood situation in Kashmir Valley as Jhelum river crossed the danger mark in Srinagar following incessant rains.
All schools in the Valley have been closed for two days after heavy rains inundated large areas.
According to the Chief Engineer Irrigation and Flood Control Kashmir, river Jhelum crossed the danger mark of 18 feet and 22 feet at Ram Munshibagh and Sangam respectively at 7 AM.
Accordingly the authorities have declared that Kashmir is facing a flood situation and people living in low lying areas, especially in and around Jhelum, have been advised to move to safer areas.
The government has put forth men and machinery into service to help the people affected by the floods, an official spokesman said. Elderly persons and children have also been asked to shift to specially set up camps.
He said all the employees deployed for flood control have been asked to report for duty immediately.
The heavy rains and flooding have paralysed normal life in the Valley, which was devastated by the worst-ever floods in its history in September last year.
“The government today decided to shut all schools up to class 12 for today and tomorrow in the wake of flood alert,” Director Education, Kashmir, Showkat Beigh, told PTI.
Beigh said the government had first announced closure of schools up to class eight only, but the decision to extend it to high and higher secondary schools was taken this morning after assessing the situation.
He said all Board of School Examinations scheduled for today and tomorrow have also been postponed. Meanwhile, University of Kashmir has also postponed its annual examinations for two days.
“The university examinations scheduled for today and tomorrow have been postponed. The new dates for these papers will be notified separately,” a University official said.
Two teams of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) comprising 100 personnel have been rushed as part of contingency measures in Jammu and Kashmir.
Two NDRF teams comprising 100 personnel have been rushed as part of contingency measures in Jammu and Kashmir, where Jhelum river today crossed the danger level in Srinagar and Sangam area of South Kashmir following heavy rains.
The two National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams, comprising about 50 personnel each, were taken in an IAF plane from Bhatinda in Punjab to Srinagar.
“We have pre-positioned two of our teams in the Kashmir Valley in order to combat any situation in the wake of flood alert. “Four other teams at Ghaziabad and Bhatinda will be on standby,” NDRF Director General O P Singh told PTI here.
The DG said there was no need to panic and the force along with the state government is putting in all measures to tackle a possible flood situation.
“There is no flooding as of now. There is some water logging in areas of Kashmir Valley. It is good news that there have been no rains for a couple of hours now in the state,” he said.
However, the IMD has predicted rains in the next 2-3 days. “The situation is not bad and we are all ready to tackle any situation,” he said.
Singh said the teams which have been airlifted are equipped with communication, rescue and retrieval gadgets as per the standard operating procedures to combat flood situations, he said.
The NDRF had played a vital role along other defence forces in undertaking massive relief and rescue operations last year when Kashmir Valley was inundated in the worst-ever floods in the history of the state.
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