Chandigarh, Sep 01: More than 5,000 civilians were rescued and 21 tonnes of relief material was provided to the people in Jammu, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh affected by floods, the army said on Monday.

The Western Command of the Indian Army has been conducting extensive Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) operations in the flood-affected states.

A total of 47 columns including army aviation and Indian Air Force helicopters were activated along with formation engineers, medical and communication resources to provide immediate relief, an officer said.

The information was given at a press conference addressed by Major General Puneet Ahuja and Colonel Iqbal Singh Arora at the Western Command headquarters in Chandimandir in Panchkula.

The army operations started on August 16.

“Troops, engineers, medical detachments, aviation assets were mobilised at short notice to safeguard lives and restore essential services,” said Col Arora.

Flood relief columns were fully prepared, trained and equipped to undertake relief missions, he said.

“Aviation assets of both Indian Army Aviation and further supported by IAF ensured timely evacuation of stranded civilians and delivery of critical supplies,” he said.

A round-the-clock flood control monitoring cell has been established at each headquarter, to monitor the water levels at major headworks, including Bhakra Nangal dam, Ranjit Sagar dam and all other critical points, he said.

He said that the operations are being conducted in close coordination with the civil authorities, NDRF and SDRF.

“The integrated approach ensured optimal use of resources and timely assistance to the affected population, reflecting the nation’s resilience and unity during the crisis,” the officer said.

“A total of 47 columns have been mobilised, comprising personnel from engineers, medical detachments and communication teams, also in addition to the main rescue teams,” he said.

Twenty aircrafts including Advanced Light Helicopters, reconnaissance and observation helicopters, Mi-17 and a Chinook were engaged in round-the-clock missions, he said.

“More than 5,000 civilians and 300 paramilitary forces personnel have been rescued from inundated areas,” he said.

Approximately 21 tonnes of relief material including food packets, medicines and essential commodities have been delivered on ground and through aerial drops at cut off locations, the officer said.

Col Arora said the communication teams laid over 2 km of optical fibre cable on August 27, restoring mobile connectivity and enabling smooth coordination of relief measures.

The army engineers on August 29 constructed a bailey bridge at Jammu Tawi within 12 hours restoring a vital lifeline for the city, he said.

Punjab is inundated with massive floods, caused by the swollen Sutlej, Beas and Ravi rivers and seasonal rivulets due to heavy rain in their catchment areas in Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir.

Villages worst-affected by the floods were in Gurdaspur, Pathankot, Fazilka, Kapurthala, Tarn Taran, Ferozepur, Hoshiarpur and Amritsar districts.

Heavy rain and flash floods in Jammu and Kashmir have left a trail of death and destruction.

More than 130 people have been killed, over 120 injured and 33 are untraceable following cloudbursts, landslides and flash floods in Kishtwar, Kathua, Reasi and Ramban districts since August 14.

Record rainfall during August 26-27 also caused flash floods in low-lying areas in Jammu and other plains, causing grave damage to public and private infrastructure.

Himachal has also faced the brunt of nature’s fury with multiple flash floods and cloudbursts and several major landslides, which have claimed several lives.

Jammu, Sep 01: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday toured the flood-hit Jammu and assured some of the victims he met of relief and rehabilitation.

Shah was accompanied by Lt Governor Manoj Sinha, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and Leader of Opposition in the J-K Assembly Sunil Sharma, and was briefed by divisional commissioner, Jammu Ramesh Kumar and other senior officers, officials said.

The home minister had reached Jammu on Sunday night to assess the flood situation and the relief efforts.

After meeting visitors at Raj Bhavan, he left for Mangu Chak, one of the worst-hit villages near Jammu Airport, for a first-hand account of the situation.

He interacted with the villagers and assured them proper relief and rehabilitation, officials said.

Shah also stopped on the Tawi bridge near Bikram Chowk and inspected the damage along the riverbanks.

“The home minister visited my home and assured relief…there is nothing left in my house after last week’s deluge,” Bhan Singh, a resident of Mangu Chak, told PTI.

A middle-aged Singh said he had never witnessed such a flood in his life. “It damaged all household goods like fridges, air conditioners and even clothes.”

Another resident, Chain Dass, said he was lucky to survive the deluge, which submerged the entire village.

“We are happy the home minister visited us and took stock of the situation,” he said, hoping the authorities will drain the water, and take steps such a flood never recurs.

He alleged that their village got flooded due to the construction of a circular road.

After conducting the tour, Shah returned to Raj Bhawan to chair a meeting attended by Sinha, Abdullah, Sharma, the DGP of police, and several officials of the Centre and the Union Territory administration.

Shah will also review the damage caused to the border security grid by the flash floods, officials said.

More than 130 people have been killed and 33 have gone missing in cloudbursts, landslides and flash floods in Kishtwar, Kathua, Reasi, and Ramban districts since August 14.

The dead include 34 pilgrims who were hit by a landslide en route to Mata Vaishno Devi shrine on August 26.

Record rainfall during August 26-27 caused flash floods in low-lying areas in Jammu and other plains, causing heavy damage to infrastructure.

Jammu and Kashmir has witnessed an unprecedented monsoon onslaught, with Jammu logging 380 mm of rainfall in 24 hours ending 8.30 am on Wednesday, the highest ever recorded in the city since 1910 when the observatory was set up.

Udhampur received the highest recorded rainfall of 630 mm for the same 24-hour period, surpassing the earlier highest of 342 mm on July 31, 2019, a spokesperson of the Meteorological department said.

This is the home minister’s second visit to Jammu in three months.

Before this, he had visited the district on May 29, nearly three weeks after the Indian armed forces carried out missile strikes on terror infrastructure across the border in reprisal to the April 22 Pahalgam attack in which terrorists killed 26 people, mostly tourists.

On August 24, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh visited Jammu to take stock of the situation following flash floods triggered by a cloudburst in Chisoti village in Kishtwar district.

Singh’s plan to visit the devastated village, on the way to Machail Mata shrine, was scuppered by inclement weather and the blocking of a road by a fresh landslide in Paddar Sub-division.

Sixty-five people, mostly pilgrims, were killed, over 100 others injured, and 32 went missing after flash floods in Chisoti on August 14.

Jammu, Sep 01: Union Home Minister Amit Shah Monday chaired a high-level meeting on flood relief measures at the Raj Bhawan here after a whirlwind tour of some flood-hit areas in this winter capital of Jammu and Kashmir, officials said.

The meeting is being attended by Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, Leader of Opposition in Assembly Sunil Sharma and senior civil, police, paramilitary and army officers, among others, they said.

Accompanied by Sinha, Abdullah and Sharma, the home minister visited the Tawi Bridge near the Bikram Chowk and Manguchak near the Jammu airport and took a first-hand account of the damage caused by the recent flash floods following record rainfall in the Jammu region last week.