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Indian Express
28 minutes ago
- Indian Express
A rush of pilgrims, and then, all swept away: Eyewitnesses recount Kishtwar flash flood horror
It was a loud clap of thunder that alerted Pradeep Singh, sitting inside his makeshift dhaba in Kishtwar's Paddar. He looked up to see a dust storm coming and immediately ran for cover – just in the nick of time. Within minutes, the place – some 9 km away from the main Mata Machail temple — was covered by slush, boulders and uprooted trees. 'This place was teeming with chanting pilgrims,' Singh, a 35-year-old from Chirala village in Doda's Bhaderwah, says. 'But within minutes, it was all swept away. When I looked back, all I could see was muck, boulders and uprooted trees in the 200-300 sq metre area.' On Thursday afternoon, a cloudburst hit the Mata Machail yatra route in Kishtwar, killing at least 65 people, although the toll could climb higher. The flash floods, which came at a time of the ongoing Mata Machail yatra, is believed to have swept away several pilgrims and damaged several homes. According to eyewitnesses, hundreds of people had gathered in the 300-metre area near Chishoti, where the flash floods occurred. 'A batch of pilgrims had just disembarked from their vehicles and were taking a break before travelling on. Several people were sitting at the langar (community kitchen) set up near the nullah, while others had gathered in the ground enjoying nature and waiting for transport. Some were standing on a wooden bridge over a nullah,' he says. Indeed, the area bears evidence of the scale of the disaster. Piles of plates and utensils peek from under the boulders, sludge, and uprooted trees. Mud-caked vehicles and wrecked buildings dot the area, some damaged beyond recognition. According to locals, several people who had parked their cars in the area and journeyed on had come back to retrieve them when the cloudburst occurred. Since the 10-km long road between Gulabgarh and Chishoti village in Paddar was narrow and had nullahs on the way, several pilgrims prefer to leave their vehicles here and take the local transport to Chishoti – the last motorable point to the temple. 'As a result, even those with vehicles could not drive away,' one local says. A Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) camp in the area was also swept away in the flash floods. The bodies of two personnel have been found, and searches are currently ongoing for others. According to locals, the casualties could have been higher, but the boulders swept down by the flood prevented the water from entering Chishoti village. This year, the annual Machail yatra began July 25 and will go on till September 5. With this yatra fast emerging as the third major pilgrimage in Jammu and Kashmir after Mata Vaishno Devi and Amarnath, the Kishtwar administration issued an advisory limiting the number of pilgrims to 8,000/day. Of this, 6,000 had to be registered online, the advisory, issued on July 18, said, adding that remaining would be spot registrations done at Shri Gauri Shankar temple, Sarkoot, the Block Development Office of Gulabgarh and Chishoti. However, details for online registration shows that as of August 15, only five pilgrims were registered online. According to sources, the long weekend from August 15-17 meant a swell in numbers, with Paddar seeing between 15,000 and 20,000 pilgrims on the day of the disaster.
Indian Express
14 hours ago
- Climate
- Indian Express
65 and counting: Why assessing toll of Kishtwar cloudburst is proving difficult
A day after a cloudburst struck the Mata Machail yatra route in Kishtwar, the toll has risen to 65 and could climb higher. Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has left for Kishtwar and will travel on Saturday morning to Chishoti, the village struck by the cloudburst. While the Air Force is on standby for relief and rescue operations, the cloudy weather is becoming a hindrance in air operations. Speaking to reporters, J&K's Minister for Agricultural Production and Rural Development, Haved Ahmad Dar, confirmed that 65 bodies have been recovered but added that many are still missing. 'There is no definite number of the missing people so far, but the number of deaths is going up,' an official told The Indian Express. 'One of the witnesses said that there were around 200 people near the langar when it was swept away.' They said that the biggest challenge right now is to trace the bodies, as some have been buried under the mounds of debris. 'Some bodies have been swept away many kilometres down the stream,' he said. 'It will take many days to retrieve all the bodies'. 'I'll be leaving for Kishtwar later this afternoon and will be going to the scene of the cloudburst tragedy early tomorrow morning to see, first hand, the extent of damage. I will review the rescue operation & assess what further help is required,' the Chief Minister's office posted on X. Officials said that the inclement weather and rough terrain have been posing difficulties in relief and rescue operations. The Indian Air Force, which is waiting for things to improve, has kept choppers on standby at its Udhampur base. The massive cloudburst struck the Chishoti village of Padder in Kishtwar on Thursday, at a time when pilgrims were on the annual Shri Mata Machail yatra. A large number of pilgrims were swept by the flash floods and many homes were damaged.
Hindustan Times
a day ago
- Climate
- Hindustan Times
37 people, mostly pilgrims, die in Kishtwar cloudburst, 100 injured: Officials
JAMMU: Torrential rain struck a remote Himalayan mountain village in Jammu and Kashmir's Kishtwar district on Thursday, killing at least 37 people and injuring many more, officials said. People move through the debris after a massive cloudburst at Chasoti village, in Jammu and Kashmir's Kishtwar district, Thursday, Aug. 14 (PTI) The disaster, reportedly triggered by a cloudburst, took place in Chasoti village by the banks of Chishoti Nullah (a rivulet), a stopover point on a popular pilgrimage route to Mata Machail temple in Padder area. The pilgrimage began on July 25, and over 130,000 pilgrims have already paid obeisance at the shrine. A police officer said a cloudburst in Chishoti Nullah triggered massive flash floods around noon on Thursday. 'The deluge hit a community kitchen set up for the pilgrims where 100 to 150 pilgrims were having food,' the officer said. A cloudburst, according to the Indian Meteorological Department, is a sudden downpour of over 100 mm of rain in just one hour, which can trigger floods, landslides, and devastation, especially in mountainous regions during the monsoon. Kishtwar district commissioner Pankaj Kumar Sharma said 37 people have died so far and over a 100 are injured. There are chances of more dead bodies being found, he said. Inspector General of Police Jammu zone BS Tuti said most of the victims were pilgrims and the casualty figures were exoected to rise. The injured were rushed to the sub-district hospital at Atholi, many were shifted to the district hospital in Kishtwar 80km away. Apart from the community kitchen, three-four houses located close to the rivulet were also swept away. Much of the Chishoti village is safe since it is located at some distance from the rivulet and is on a slope. Personnel of the Indian Army, Border Security Force, State Disaster Response Force and the National Disaster Response Force have been deployed. A Gulabgarh resident, Deepak Singh said the situation was 'very grim'. 'About 150 pilgrims had taken shelter in the Langar when a cloudburst hit the area,' he said. He said the CISF had set up a picket near the community kitchen, which was also swept away in the torrent of water and debris along with vehicles which were parked. Chasoti village was the last motorable village on the way to the shrine.
