Amid inclement weather, an old woman died and a fuel station was buried in two separate incidents of landslides in Kathua and Udhampur districts late Sunday, said officials.
The heavy downpour also caused soil erosion beneath a strategic railway bridge at Chakki Bank on Monday morning.
The vital bridge connects Jammu and Kashmir with the rest of the country via rail link. The incident has prompted Northern Railways to dump concrete sleepers to prevent further damage.
“A 65-year-old woman namely Chinto Devi, wife of late Sadhu Ram of Kachir Morah Kalta in Banihal tehsil of Kathua district, died after a landslide hit her near her field on Sunday evening,” said a police officer.
“The old woman had gone to her fields near her house when rains triggered a landslide that hit her causing her death. We came to know about the incident today. The body has been retrieved and handed over to family members for last rites,” said Bani SHO inspector Surinder Raina.
In another incident of landslide, a fuel station at Thalad near Bani Nullah was hit by a landslide causing extensive damage.
“There was a landslide late Sunday and Monday morning as well, which has caused damage to the fuel station. However, there was no loss of life in the incident,” said a police officer.
The fuel station was located close to a hill.
Traffic movement along the stretch was severely affected, and authorities advised the commuters to take alternate routes until clearance work was completed.
The vehicular movement has also been banned at night from 8 pm to 6 am on Reasi-Arnas-Mahore road in view of heavy rains.
The Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) Dharmari has imposed restrictions on vehicular movement during night hours in view of incessant rains and increasing risk to public safety.
In an order issued on, SDM Dharmari, Tariq Aziz said that the monsoon rains have caused severe damage to road infrastructure, triggering waterlogging, erosion, and landslides, thereby making travel extremely risky. The administration pointed out that three lives were lost and several people sustained grievous injuries in separate road accidents in August alone, mostly during night travel.
To prevent further loss of life, a complete ban on the movement of vehicles has been ordered on all roads within Dharmari sub division, particularly the Reasi-Arnas-Mahore road, between 8 pm and 6 am.
The order, however, exempts emergency services such as ambulances, fire tenders, and vehicles used by police and law enforcement agencies, as well as those engaged in relief and restoration work.
In another rain related incident, soil erosion beneath a bridge at Chakki Bank in Pathankot prompted Northern Railways to dump concrete slabs to prevent further damage.
This morning videos on social media sites showed soil erosion beneath Chakki Bank railway bridge that connects J&K with Punjab
“There is no impact on train movement to and from Jammu so far. We have dumped 3,200 concrete sleepers to prevent further soil erosion. After the flow of water subsides, full-fledged fortification work will be taken up. Monitoring teams are keeping 24×7 surveillance,” said Uchit Singhal, senior commercial divisional manager, Jammu Railway Division.
He also informed that protection work on bridge number 43 over Sahar Khad in Kathua, which had suffered damage in recent rains, was also on.
A road bridge over the same rivulet on Jammu-Pathankot national highway NH 44 collapsed on Sunday amid torrential rains.
On Monday, authorities conducted trials to use an adjoining bridge for two way traffic to assess if it can withstand the load.
Traffic movement has been diverted to safer routes.
In view of the inclement weather conditions, the directorate of school education has ordered that all government as well as private schools in the Jammu division shall continue to remain closed till Tuesday.
The Met department has forecast light to moderate rain, thundershower at many places with heavy to very heavy rain at few places of Jammu, Reasi, Udhampur, Samba, Kathua and Rajouri with intense showers over Poonch, Ramban, Doda, Kishtwar and southern parts of Kashmir till Tuesday.