An eight-year-old boy was killed and a teenage girl was injured after their houses collapsed in heavy rain in separate incidents in Udhampur district of Jammu and Kashmir late on Tuesday, PTI reported. The 13-year-old girl is said to be in a critical condition.
Intermittent rain also triggered a landslide at Morh Passi near Balli Nallah along the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway in Udhampur district, blocking the only road linking Kashmir with the rest of the country.
“Heavy rains were hampering the ongoing clearance operation on the 270-km highway,” an unidentified official said. The official said the Amarnath Yatra from Jammu was halted on Wednesday due to the closure of the highway.
The yatra was suspended on Sunday after the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway was closed because of mudslides in the Ramban and Banihal route in Jammu division. It had resumed on Monday from Jammu and Pahalgam base camps.
Director of State Meteorological Department Sonam Lotus said Udhampur has received 342 mm of rainfall since 8 pm on Tuesday. Katra town, which is the base camp for Vaishno Devi pilgrims in Reasi district, recorded 292.4 mm rainfall during the same period, Lotus said.
Pilgrims were stopped from moving along the new track to the Vaishno Devi shrine because of the heavy rains, a police official said. He said pilgrims were moving towards the cave shrine through the old route.
The weather department issued a yellow warning alert for the Jammu region till Thursday. The department issues colour-coded warnings to warn public ahead of severe weather.
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