Body of woman swept away in Jammu flash flood recovered after 3-days

Jammu, Oct 13: The body of a woman, who was swept away by flash flood in Jammu’s Raipur Domana area earlier this week, was recovered on Tuesday after three days of extensive search operations by the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and local police.
An official said that Ruksana Kouser went missing on Sunday morning after a sudden surge of floodwater swept her away along with a car as she tried to call back her husband, Advocate Chowdhary Mohammad Kaleem, of Hubbi village in Kotranka. Her husband had a close shave. “The couple had stepped outside their house following a sudden rise in water levels behind their residence. When Kaleem attempted to move their car to safety, the vehicle was engulfed by the gushing water. Ruksana, who followed him to call him back, was caught in the powerful current and swept downstream,” the official added.
Locals, police personnel and teams of the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) had launched a search operation soon after the incident. The operation continued for three days before her body was recovered this afternoon, the official said.
Pertinently, heavy rainfall on Oct 11 brought Jammu to a standstill, causing widespread waterlogging, flooding of residential and commercial areas, damage to vehicles and landslides along key roads.
Jammu recorded 185.6 mm of rainfall in 24 hours, setting a new all-time October record and surpassing the previous high of 160 mm recorded on October 5, 1955, according to data shared by an independent weather forecasting channel.
The downpour, which began around 8:30 am on Sunday and continued for more than three hours, inundated several localities, including Panjtirthi, Nagrota, Roop Nagar, Dogra Chowk, Durga Nagar, Shakti Nagar, Bantalab, Bohri, Anand Nagar and Raipur Domana. Rainwater entered houses and shops, while several vehicles were reportedly damaged. (KNO)