Fear of oods looms large as Met predicts more rain

Government, people hope for the best but prepare for the worst
Zahid Raq
A dry Tuesday
brought some relief to the
residents of Srinagar as the
water in the Jhelum receded
below the ood alarm levels.
But with the Meteorological
Department predicting moderate to heavy rainfall on
Wednesday, the fear of oods
hung over the city like dark
clouds.
The situation has improved a lot with the dry spell.
While the water level in south
Kashmir has gone down
much below the danger level
in Srinagar it has receded
just below the ood level,
Javed Jaffer, Chief Engineer
of Irrigation and Flood Control Department, told The
Hindu.
A 42-hour-long dry spell
has given ample time to the
government to prepare for
the oods. At the same time, it
has given hope to the people
that the situation this time
might not be as bad as it was
in September last year. Mr.
Jaffer said there were no
breaches in either the Jhelum
or any of its streams and the
SRINAGAR:

A view of river Jhelum after water started receding near Amirakadal bridge in
Srinagar on Tuesday. PHOTO: NISSAR AHMAD
river was holding up very
well.
At 8 p.m., the water level at
the Sangam gauge in south
Kashmir was recorded at 13.9

feet, dropping seven feet below the ood level of 21 feet.

In Srinagar, the Jhelum was
at 16.95 feet, a foot below the
ood level of 18 feet. On Mon-

day afternoon, at its peak, the

river rumbled at 22.5 feet in
Sangam and 19.7 feet in
Srinagar.
The Jhelum ows quickly

from south Kashmir to Srinagar but takes much longer to

ow out from Srinagar towards north Kashmir. This
puts Srinagar at the risk of
oods, Mr. Jaffer said. He
said if it rained heavily on
Wednesday, things could
turn grim yet again in
Srinagar.
The government, the administration and the people
are hoping for the best and
preparing for the worst.
Wednesday will be a day of
rainfall. We are expecting
moderate rainfall although in
some places it could be
heavy, said Sonam Lotus, director of the Meteorological
Department.
The government said it
was prepared to meet the inclement weather challenge
and was working hard to
avoid any ooding in Srinagar. We are prepared for any
eventuality and have been
working
round-the-clock
with various functionaries of
the State to face the predicted fresh spell of rainfall, Imran Ansari, senior PDP
leader and Cabinet Minister,
said.