Torrential overnight rain triggered flash floods and landslides across the twin border districts of Poonch and Rajouri dozens dead in flash floods Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday, killing at least 11 people and leaving seven others missing, according to news agency ANI. A multi-agency rescue and relief operation was underway through the day as authorities raced to reach residents trapped by rising water and debris.
What happened
The worst of the devastation struck Surankote tehsil in Poonch district, where a landslide brought down onto a house in Lower Murrah village in the early hours, burying eight people under the debris. Rescue teams recovered five bodies from the site, including that of a two-year-old boy, and continued searching for the remaining occupants through the day, officials told the news agency.
Elsewhere in Poonch, a woman died and three family members were injured when their house collapsed in Noonabandi village, and a young man was killed when another house came down at Sanglani-Surankote. A minor girl drowned in a stream at Marhote, and an unidentified woman’s body was recovered from a stream near a bridge in the area. Separately, four members of one family — reported by officials as Abdul Hameed, his wife, daughter and sister — went missing after their home was swept away at Sangla village. In Haveli tehsil, one person died and another was left critically injured after nearly half-a-dozen houses collapsed.
In neighbouring Rajouri, the Darhali river breached a flood-protection wall near Bela Colony in Rajouri town, sending water gushing into the new bus stand area and sweeping away dozens of parked vehicles. A woman’s body was later fished out of a river in the town. More than 50 families living near a bridge in the town had to be evacuated as floodwater entered their homes, and police said they responded to several SOS calls from residents trapped near another crossing.
Photo: PTI, via Daily Excelsior
Background: a night of relentless rain
The India Meteorological Department had already flagged a spell of moderate to heavy rainfall across Jammu and Kashmir running from July 19 to July 23. Rajouri and Poonch bore the brunt of the opening night of that spell, with rain falling continuously from Saturday evening into Sunday morning. Several rivers in the region — the Darhali, Khandli, Suktoh and Jamola — rose well beyond the danger mark, according to officials cited by news agencies. The same weather system prompted authorities to suspend both the Amarnath Yatra and the Vaishno Devi Yatra from Sunday as a precaution, with pilgrim movement halted on the Pahalgam and Baltal routes and at the Bhagwati Nagar base camp in Jammu.
Flash flooding is a recurring monsoon hazard in this stretch of the Pir Panjal region, but local residents told reporters the scale of Sunday’s damage was unusual, with entire stretches of Rajouri town’s new bus stand submerged within minutes as the river breached its banks.
Photo: X / @airnewsalerts, via The Week
Official response
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, who had travelled to Delhi for a planned statehood protest, cut short his visit and returned to Jammu in the afternoon to personally oversee the response. “The first priority of the administration is to safeguard precious lives,” he said, adding that the government would extend all possible assistance to families who had suffered loss of life or property. He confirmed that his party’s separate protest in Delhi over the restoration of statehood would go ahead on July 20 under party president Farooq Abdullah, even as he returned to the state.
Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha reviewed the situation in both districts and directed officials to ensure immediate relief. “I am deeply saddened by the loss of lives in Rajouri and Poonch’s Haveli and Surankote areas. My heart goes out to the grieving families,” Sinha said, according to ANI, adding that rescue teams from the civil administration, police, army and the State Disaster Response Force were working on the ground alongside local volunteers. The Rajouri district administration set up a relief and rehabilitation centre at a government school in the town for residents whose homes had been damaged or flooded.
Local legislators also mobilised on the ground. Congress MLA Iftikhar Ahmad, who had been due to attend a party programme, said he had returned to his constituency instead: “I have abandoned my party programme to stand with my people, as the flash floods have caused extensive damage to public and private property.”
What’s next
Rescue teams were continuing search operations into the evening for the seven people still unaccounted for, with officials cautioning that the toll could rise as debris clearance continued in Surankote. The IMD’s forecast of continued heavy rain through July 23 means the affected districts remain at risk of further flooding and landslides in the coming days; a red alert has separately been issued for parts of neighbouring Himachal Pradesh for July 20 and 21. Authorities have asked residents near riverbanks and low-lying areas in Rajouri and Poonch to stay alert and avoid unnecessary travel, and the district administration is continuing to assess damage to roads, bridges and homes across the two districts.
Sources: ANI (Asian News International) — primary wire reports and official statements from Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha and Chief Minister Omar Abdullah; cross-verified against agency coverage carried by PTI/IANS and republished by The Federal, Daily Excelsior and The Week. (For the editorial team’s reference; not necessarily for the published piece.)
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