Mother, 2 children washed away in flash floods

Ramban, Aug 26: A cloudburst that struck in Kumait, Dhraman and Halla areas of Rajgarh in Ramban district wreaked havoc, claiming the lives of three family members and damaging property worth lakhs of rupees on Monday.

Officials said that a cloudburst at Kumait, Rajgarh area abruptly swelled local streams and caused heavy damage to residential houses, buildings of Government Middle Schools Draman and Gadgram, watermills and a few footbridges while some parked cars were washed away in the area.

Station House Officer (SHO) Ramban, Inspector Vijay Kotwal who was stationed at Rajgarh said a house belonging to Bhag Din was washed away in the flooded stream and three persons identified as Naseema Begum 40, wife of Bhag Din, their son Yasir Ahmad, 20, and daughter Shazia Banoo, 6, all residents of Gadigram Rajgargh were washed away.

He said that on Monday evening, the body of the missing boy Yasir Ahmad was retrieved.

Kotwal said that the search operation to trace out the other two missing persons was underway.

Locals said Bhag Din and other family members were not present in the house at the time of the cloudburst.

The buildings of Government Middle Schools, Draman and Gadgram were damaged in the incident.

Deputy Commissioner Ramban, Basser-ul-Haq Choudary posted on microblogging site X that the cloudburst occurred in Panchayats of Kumate, Draman, and Halla and that the rescue teams were on the spot.

He said that the district administration had mobilised all available resources and advised people not to believe rumours but to verify reports from reliable government sources.

According to locals, actual damages and the number of missing persons were yet not ascertained as the link road leading to Rajgarh, 3 km ahead of Rajgarh, is still blocked.  

The rescue and search operation to locate the missing persons was called off for the night, a Police official said. 

Meanwhile, Deputy Commissioner Ramban in another tweet on X late Monday evening posted, “Tragic loss as one body recovered after the cloudburst at Rajgarh. Rescue operations, halted due to heavy rain and flash floods, will resume tomorrow. The district administration expresses sympathy with affected families. All possible support will be provided to them as per the law.”