Rains, wind storm wreck havoc in Jammu region 3 children killed, 33 persons injured; several houses damaged

SYED AMJAD SHAH

Jammu, May 28: While the weather phenomenon of strong dust storm and winds with mild to heavy rains continued for second day today bringing further respite from backing heat in Jammu city and its surrounding areas, extreme weather disturbance wreck havoc in some other parts of the region leading to the death of at least three children and injury to over 33 persons, including 18 children, beside severe damage to numbers of residential houses.

Three children were killed when lightening struck their house in Reasi district, while eighteen school children were injured in a similar incident in mountainous Doda district.

3 Killed in Reasi

Three minors, including two sisters, died in Reasi when lightening struck at their residential house at Advess village of Arnas in Reasi district, early this morning.

The deceased were identified as Gulshan Bano (12) and her sister Hanifa Begam (7) daughters of Abdul Gani and their cousin Sarwaz Gull (4) son of Abdul Rehman.

The minors were taking meal inside the house, while their elders were out on the work, when the catastrophic took place, repots reaching here said adding, they were charred to death due the strong impact of lightening.

Over two dozens of structures were damaged, some of them completely since last night due to the strong winds and rains in Arnas, Sadli, Vijaypur, Sarewar, Simbal Joa of the same district.

LIGHTENING STRUCK SCHOOL

In a similar incident, 18 school children suffered burn wounds when lightening struck government Middle School Beoli (Doda). Four of the injured children were in critical condition, while rests were discharged after first aid.

At least two residential houses were also damaged due to lightening in a separate incident in Kastigarh area of the same district.

152 SHEEP PERISHED

Reports said 152 sheep belonging to Shadi Lal and Fayaz Ahmed perished due to cloud burst at Kumet village in Ramban district.

4 INJURED IN JAMMU OUTSKIRTS

Four persons of a family were injured when a house collapsed in Garota area of Jammu district. Injured were identified as Gulzar Bibi wife of Muhammad Ashraf and her three children Rubeena, Waseem and Sameer Khan.

11 INJURED IN POONCH, RAJOURI

At least eleven persons were injured in separate incidents across twing districts of Rajouri and Poonch. Three of the critically injured, Manzoor Hussain, Zaheer Ahmed and Tariq Hussain, were admitted in district hospital.

WIND STORM IN JAMMU

Meanwhile, nearly a dozen structures were partially damaged at Narwal Balla, Bathandi, Bishnah and other areas due to strong wind in Jammu district and its surrounding areas.

Normal life was severely affected due to the wind storm, which continued blowing throughout the day.

POWER SNAG

The inclement weather conditions across the region also affected power supply. Jammu city witnessed frequent power disruptions due to blowing of stormy winds, while power supply to border districts of Rajouri and Poonch remained snapped for the whole day. The districts of Rajouri, Kahthua, Samba, Udhampur, parts of Jammu, Ramban and Doda also experienced erratic power supply during last twenty four hours.

The snag developed on two main transmission lines emanating from Salal Project was the main contributing factor in the erratic power supply, sources said adding that while the supply on one line was restored in late afternoon, the restoration work on other line was not completed due to inclement weather condition

The power supply to Kishtwar district, which was snapped due to the collapse of transmission tower at Pul Doda about ten days back, is yet to be restored, sources added