Mercury dropped in several parts of north India today as rains lashed many places including Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir, where eighteen people died due to house-collapse and landslides.
Incessant rains led to flooding of several areas in Kashmir causing panic among the people. Due to heavy rains over the past 36 hours, river Jhelum was flowing above the danger mark at several places including Sangam in Anantnag district and Ram Munshi Bagh in Srinagar.
Chief Minister Mufti Sayeed said one person died and 10 others are trapped in the debris of a house which collapsed in Laldan area of Budgam district of Kashmir valley due to floods. Police later said that six persons have died while 13 other people are believed to be trapped in the debris after a landslide brought down four houses in Budgam.
The authorities declared a flood situation in Kashmir and the Centre and the state government swung into action, witheight teams of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) being rushed to the Valley to help in rescue and relief.
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Two NDRF teams comprising 100 personnel have already been rushed by an IAF plane from Bhatinda in Punjab to Srinagar. (PTI)
However, as the day progressed rainfall stopped Srinagar and the authorities announced that the water level of Jhelum river which had touched the flood levels at Sangam and Ram Munshi Bagh was showing a declining or static trend.
In the national capital, overcast conditions prevailed throughout the day and temperatures settled within comfortable levels after overnight heavy rains.
The Safdarjung observatory which measures the official reading for Delhi recorded 11.2 mm rains, while areas under Lodhi Road, Palam, the Ridge and Ayanagar received 10.6 mm, 20.6 mm, 9 mm and 8.6 mm of rainfall, respectively.
According to the MeT department, rain accompanied with thundershowers may occur in some parts of Delhi till midnight.
The maximum temperature in the city settled four notches below the season’s average at 29.3 degrees Celsius while the minimum was recorded a notch above the normal at 19.9 degrees.
Most parts of Himachal Pradesh were lashed by rains and thunderstorm while Shimla and its surrounding areas were lashed by a severe hailstorm and high altitude tribal areas had another spell of moderate snowfall.
A severe hailstorm lashed Shimla and surrounding areas this evening, reducing visibility and forcing people to rush indoors. The roads were covered under 5 cm thick layer of hail disrupting vehicular traffic.