5 die in Jammu rains, Srinagar highway shut

JAMMU: Incessant rains continued to lash Jammu for the third straight day on Friday, leading to the deaths of a mother-son duo and halting traffic on the strategic Jammu-Srinagar National highway due to piles of snow, landslides, slush and boulders. The rains had caused three deaths on Thursday, taking the total to five in the past 24 hours.
Early Friday, Shano Devi (50) and her son Raghu (25) died when a boulder rolled down and hit their two-wheeler in Moungari area of Udhampur district, officials said.
Elsewhere, 12 workers were rescued from the flood fury. “Around 11 labourers were rescued from Ujh river in Rajbagh area of Kathua,” an official said, adding they were putting up a shed near a construction site when they were suddenly marooned in the flash floods. Police and SDRF teams rescued a truck driver trapped in floods in Niki Tawi area of Jammu.
The situation on the Srinagar highway remained grim. “No fresh traffic was allowed owing to accumulation of snow between Ramsoo and Qazigund, shooting of stones, landslides and mudslides at various places between Nashri and Banihal. Traffic was suspended around 7pm Thursday, leaving hundreds of vehicles stranded,” an official said.

Batote-Doda road was also closed due to landslides, while Bhaderwah-Chamba road, Mughal road and Sinthan road were shut due to snow, traffic police posted on X. “Inclement weather affected helicopter services to Sanjichhat (Vaishno Devi shrine) from Katra on Friday. But the pilgrimage by foot was unaffected,” the official said.
In Thursday’s rains, the civilian driver of a CRPF vehicle died and two personnel were wounded after it was hit by a boulder in Surankote of Poonch. A truck driver died in the same area after it fell into a gorge, while a 12-year-old boy was washed away in flash floods in Reasi.