Jammu Police, SDRF team rescue dumper driver trapped in flash flood in River Tawi
Shadow Correspondent
Jammu, Feb 28:
Police and State Disaster Rescue Force (SDRF) team in a joint operation early morning on Friday rescued a dumper driver trapped in River Tawi due to flash flood in Phallianmandal area here in the city outskirts.
Police said that at about 5:40 am, information was received at Police Station Satwari that one dumper driver was trapped in Niki Tawi area near crusher aa the dumper was submerged in water due to sudden flash flood in the water body.
“The driver was struggling for his life while standing in cabin roof of the submerged dumper,” said police.
“Acting swiftly on receiving the information, rescue operation was launched in assistance with SDRF team and Jammu South police,” they added.
They said that
“The team successfully rescued the person from the river bed and was given immediate first aid,” said police.
Rescued person was identified as Mohan Lal, resident of Om Nagar, Gole Gujral.
The ‘Operation Rudder’ was supervised by SSP Jammu Joginder Singh.
Meanwhile, The ongoing wet spell across Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh has significantly reduced the rainfall deficit, bringing it down from nearly 80 percent to 42 percent, according to official data.
The heavy precipitation over the past few days has provided much-needed relief from the prolonged dry conditions.
According to the Meteorological Department, Srinagar data, between February 26 and 28, J&K recorded an average rainfall of 78.4 mm, far exceeding the normal of 15.5 mm for this period—an increase of 407 percent.
Some districts experienced even higher deviations, with Kargil in Ladakh UT recording 32.6 mm against a normal of just 0.2 mm, marking a 16,200 percent surge.
Jammu, Ramban, and Poonch also saw substantial excess rainfall, further improving the overall precipitation tally.
The three-day wet spell brought significant rainfall with Ramban recording 173.3 mm, nearly six times its normal 25 mm. Udhampur saw an extreme 1,891 percent increase, with 151.4 mm against a usual 7.6 mm.
Poonch 90.5 mm and Rajouri 83 mm recorded over 1,000 percent increases in rainfall.
In Kashmir, Kupwara, Bandipora, Baramulla, and Anantnag received three to five times their usual precipitation.
Srinagar received 30.4 mm and Shopian 26.8 mm of rainfall which was above-normal rainfall.
The wet spell also brought significant snowfall to various parts of Kashmir, with Gulmarg receiving the highest snow depth at 113 cm, followed by Sonamarg at 75 cm. The higher reaches of Kupwara, Bandipora, and South Kashmir recorded snow accumulations between 60 and 90 cm.
Despite this improvement, the cumulative rainfall for January and February 2025 remains 42 percent below normal, MeT said.
In Kashmir Anantnag has a deficit of 52 percent below normal, Budgam 65 percent, Kulgam 69 percent, and Srinagar 64 percent, and these districts continue to show significant shortfalls. In Jammu, districts like Rajouri and Samba have recorded near-normal precipitation.
Meanwhile, The flight operations at the Srinagar International Airport resumed while the strategic Srinagar-Jammu National highway and Srinagar-Sonamarg-Gumri road connecting Ladakh Union Territory remained closed due to accumulation of snowfall occurring across the Kashmir valley during the past 24 hours, officials said.
The flight operations at the Srinagar International Airports resumed after the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) cleared off the snow from the runway and improvement in the visibility allowed a flight SG 937 from Delhi to land at 11.12 am, Airport Director Javid Anjum said.
Traffic on Srinagar- Jammu Jammu National Highway is blocked due to snow accumulation between Ramsoo and Qazigund, shooting stones/landslides/mudslides between Nashri and NAVYUG Tunnel.
The BRO responsible for the maintenance of the highway have pressed its men and machinery to clear the snow from the high to make it traffic worthy.
Batote-Doda road was also closed due to landslides at Ragi Nalla. Moreover, Srinagar-Sonamarg-Gumri ,(SSG) Road connecting Ladakh and Bhaderwah-Chamba Road, Mughal road/ Sinthan road are also closed due to accumulation of snow, Jammu and Kashmir Traffic Police posted on X.
Srinagar and other parts of Kashmir valley experienced light to moderate snowfall overnight disrupting normal life. The weather is likely to improve from late afternoon.
The inclement weather persisted for the fourth consecutive day in the Kashmir valley with higher reaches experiencing yet another heavy spell of snowfall, while the plains have been lashed by light to moderate snowfall over the past 24 hours.
The Meteorological Centre Srinagar office said the ski resort of Gulmarg received the highest accumulation of 60.0 cm of snowfall followed by tourist resort of Pahalgam and picnic spot of south Kashmir 2323.0cm respectively and Qazigund 17.0cm, Kupwara 15 Cm and Srinagar 3.4cm respectively during the past 24 hours.
In the Union Territory of Ladakh Kargil, Drass and Zanskar received 30 cm of snowfall while most places of Khalsi, Sospul, Leh, Kharu, Nubra and Burbuk received 5 to 10 cm of snowfall overnight, officials said. It was still snowing at most places in Leh and some places in Zanskar and Kargil. The Weather is likely to improve late afternoon today.
The MeT office said the weather will generally remain cloudy with Light to moderate rain/Snow at many places with isolated heavy rain/Snow over Jammu Division.
It said the improvement over north and central Kashmir is expected from today afternoon and South Kashmir from late afternoon and Chenab Valley from evening/night.
There is a possibility of light rain and snow at isolated to scattered places during the next two day over Jammu and Kashmir while on March 3 light to moderate rain/Snow at many places can not be ruled out. The weather will remain dry from March 4 to 8.
The maximum temperature remained 3 to 6°C below normal in many parts of Kashmir valley and it was below normal also by 4 to 7°C in Jammu division.
Srinagar recorded a low of sub-zero temperature and it was 1.0°C below normal for the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir. The day temperature recorded on Thursday was 6.5°C and this was 5.5°C below normal.
The minimum night temperature also plunged to 2 to 4°C below normal in both Jammu and Kashmir. The lowest -2.0°C was recorded at the ski resort of Gulmarg in Kashmir valley and -0.2°C in Bhaderwah in Jammu division.
The Jammu and Kashmir School Board of education (JKBOSE) has decided to hold 11th class exams on schedule despite heavy snowfall, a communiqué said. “There is no change in the exam scheduled for today”, officials said.
However, Islamic University of Science and Technology (IUST) has postponed the 1st semester examinations scheduled for today.
The Controller of Examinations stated, “This is for the information of all concerned that 1st semester exams scheduled for 28-02-2025 are hereby postponed. The fresh dates for the said exams shall be notified later.”
Meanwhile , The inclement weather has shut the strategic Srinagar-Jammu National highway and Srinagar-Sonamarg-Gumri road connecting Ladakh Union Territory due to accumulation of snow and also affected flight operations at the Srinagar International Airport on Friday, an officials said.
Srinagar and other parts of Kashmir valley experienced light to moderate snowfall overnight disrupting normal life. It was snowing at many places in the valley, the reports said.
“As of now all the morning flights are running late due to bad weather at Srinagar International Airport”, Airport Director Javid Anjum said.
The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) engaged in the snow clearance at the Srinagar airport runway after the area received fresh snowfall today.
Traffic on Srinagar- Jammu Jammu National Highway is blocked due to snow accumulation between Ramsoo and Qazigund, shooting stones/landslides/mudslides between Nashri and NAVYUG Tunnel.
The BRO responsible for the maintenance of the highway have pressed its men and machinery to clear the snow from the high to make it traffic worthy.
Batote-Doda road was also closed due to landslides at Ragi Nalla. Moreover, Srinagar-Sonamarg-Gumri ,(SSG) Road connecting Ladakh and Bhaderwah-Chamba Road, Mughal road/ Sinthan road are also closed due to accumulation of snow, Jammu and Kashmir Traffic Police posted on X.
The Jammu and Kashmir School Board of education (JKBOSE) has decided to hold 11th class exams on schedule despite heavy snowfall, a communiqué said. “There is no change in the exam scheduled for today”, officials said.
However, Islamic University of Science and Technology (IUST) has postponed the 1st semester examinations scheduled for today.
The Controller of Examinations stated, “This is for the information of all concerned that 1st semester exams scheduled for 28-02-2025 are hereby postponed. The fresh dates for the said exams shall be notified later.”
