Flash floods triggered by a cloudburst killed seven people in Kathua district of Jammu overnight, days after a similar calamity in Chositi village of Kishtwar district left 60 people dead and at least 70 missing.
The Kathua tragedy has struck at a time a massive rescue operation is under way in Kishtwar. Although both districts are in Jammu, they are several hundred kilometres apart.
Officials said five people were killed in Jod Ghati village in the Rajbagh area of Kathua. Floods snapped access to the area and damaged land and property, officials said. Two people died in Janglote village, around 15km away.
Police and state disaster response force (SDRF) teams joined local volunteers in the rescue efforts in the early hours of Sunday, officials said.
"Efforts are being made to provide supplies by air," Kathua deputy commissioner Rajesh Sharma said, citing connectivity issues.
Officials said the region had witnessed heavy rainfall, leading to a sharp rise in water levels in the rivers, with the Ujh flowing near the danger mark.
The Kathua flash floods have come while authorities are under fire from relatives of the Kishtwar tragedy, outraged that a local pilgrimage was green-lighted despite travel warnings, thereby worsening the toll.
The relatives are also angry about slow rescue operations — a search for the missing and digging for bodies — and have alleged that visiting VIPs’ weakness for photo-ops is hampering the rescuers.
The official death toll in Kishtwar has reached 60 while 70 to 80 are missing.
Chief minister Omar Abdullah has directed the administration to carry out immediate relief, rescue and evacuation measures in Kathua, the chief minister’s office said.
A PTI report said that Omar had announced ₹2 lakh each for the families of the dead, ₹1 lakh for the severely injured and ₹50,000 for those with minor injuries.
He has also announced a compensation of ₹1 lakh for “fully damaged” houses, ₹50,000 for severe damage and ₹25,000 for partial damage, the news agency added.
In a post on X, lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha said he had “briefed” Union home minister Amit Shah “on rescue and relief operations by the army, NDRF, SDRF, police & administration”.
“I have directed the Senior Civil & Police Officials to coordinate and execute rescue and aid efforts in the affected areas and ensure on-site medical assistance,” Sinha wrote.
In a social media post, Shah assured every support from the Narendra Modi government.
Union minister of state Jitendra Singh said the twin disasters in the Jammu region had damaged railway tracks, national highways and a police station in Kathua.