New Delhi: The Army carried out two rescue operations on Saturday. In one operation, it pulled 11 civilians to safety from flash floods in Rajouri district of Jammu & Kashmir, while in the other, troops joined a search and rescue effort after a landslide struck houses in Nagaland’s Mon district.
Rajouri rescue
Troops of the White Knight Corps, working with the Jammu & Kashmir Police, J&K State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and civil administration, rescued 11 civilians, including five children, stranded at different spots in Rajouri after incessant rain triggered flash floods, according to an Army statement issued on Saturday.
In the first operation, nine civilians, including five children, were stranded across a flooded nala near Churung village, south of Thanamandi. Rescue teams reached the site quickly despite strong currents and evacuated all nine.
In a separate operation, troops of an Engineer Regiment rescued two youths, aged between 17 and 20, who were marooned on a river island in the Naushera Tawi river near Dhangri, about 12 km from Rajouri. Both were braved out through strong currents and handed over to their families in the presence of civil administration officials.
No casualties were reported in either operation.
The rescues come as the India Meteorological Department has forecast a spell of heavy to extremely heavy rain across the Jammu region from July 19 to 23, with Jammu, Kathua, Samba, Rajouri, Doda, Ramban and Kishtwar likely to receive heavy to very heavy rain, while Reasi and Udhampur may see extremely heavy rainfall. The department has separately warned of flash floods, landslides and mudslides in vulnerable areas including the Chenab Valley and Pir Panjal range, with peak weather activity expected on July 21 and 22.
Landslide in Mon
Far from Jammu in the northeast, a landslide struck Mon district in Nagaland on Saturday morning, affecting a cluster of 10 to 15 houses. Search and rescue operations by Assam Rifles, the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and Nagaland Police are underway, according to a brief update issued by the Army. Further details on casualties or damage were awaited at the time of filing.
Mon, a hill district roughly 200 kilometres north of the state capital Kohima, is among the areas in Nagaland classified under moderate to high landslide hazard, with the district having witnessed road-cutting slides in the region during previous monsoon seasons. Assam Rifles, deployed extensively across Nagaland under the Army’s Spear Corps, has been the first responder in several flood and landslide-related civil rescue efforts in the state through the current monsoon.
This report will be updated as more details on the Mon landslide become available.