No forecast of major rain till end of this month: MeT

Anantnag: The tourist guide who was feared drowned in Tarsar Lake area in Pahalgam amid incessant rains that caused the lake to overflow on Wednesday was found dead and his body retrieved on Thursday, while the tourist from Uttarakhand, who also drowned, has still not been found, and is feared to be dead.
Efforts are on to find the body of the missing tourist, Dr Mahesh from Uttarakhand, while the deceased guide has been identified as Shakeel Ahmad, a resident of Gagangeer area in Ganderbal district.
“The body has been sent for medico-legal formalities and will be handed over to the family after that,” a police official from Anantnag district said. “We are looking for the body of the tourist,” he added.
Rains lashed Kashmir valley for more than three days, causing widespread damage in many parts of the valley, as low-lying areas were inundated and gushing waters washed away some bridges and roads.
Severe damage was caused to the Jammu-Srinagar national highway as well. “The traffic stranded is being cleared today even as some parts of the highway still remain damaged and inaccessible. Efforts are on to make the entire highway pliable soon,” a traffic police official said on Thursday.
Several rescue missions were accomplished successfully, across Kashmir valley, where mostly members of nomadic families were rescued from almost inaccessible areas.
A similar distress call was received from Tarsar Lake in Sikwas area of Pahalgam, where a group of 14 people, including eleven tourists and three tourist guides, had gone for an adventure trip.
“They were trapped due to overflowing of the lake and by the time help could have reached, a tourist and a tourist guide had drowned in the water,” a source in Anantnag district administration said.
He said that the other people were rescued late Wednesday afternoon, and were taken to safer locations, while teams were stationed to trace the tourist guide and the tourist.
“We feared both of them were dead and the fears have come true. The body of the guide has been fished out while efforts are on to track the body of the tourist,” the source in the district administration said.
Meanwhile, improved weather and receding water levels have brought relief to the worried people across the valley. The administration has now started exercises to determine the quantum of damage caused by the rains and the inundation of certain areas, including Bemina in Srinagar.
“A detailed report will soon be compiled and then a further course of action will be formulated,” a senior official in the administration said.
The MeT department has said that there is no forecast of any major rain till the end of this month.

Suhail A Shah