10 feared dead as cloudburst and landslide devastate J&K’s Ramban, Reasi

Jammu and Kashmir reeled under fresh tragedy on August 30 as nature’s fury unleashed back-to-back disasters — a cloudburst in Ramban and a landslide in Reasi — leaving at least 10 people feared dead, including five children from the same family.

In Ramban’s Rajgarh tehsil, torrential rains triggered a cloudburst that sent flash floods roaring through villages, killing three and sweeping away several others. Rescue teams rushed to the scene managed to retrieve three bodies, while the search continues for at least five more missing residents. “The floods not only claimed lives but also washed away homes and property,” an official said, underscoring the scale of devastation.

Just hours earlier, in Reasi’s Mahore area, a landslide flattened a house, burying seven members of a family alive — a couple and their five young children, all under 12 years old. As rescue teams scrambled through the debris, officials confirmed no bodies had yet been recovered.

The twin incidents come amid a fortnight of relentless downpours, cloudbursts and landslides that have left the Jammu region battered. Over 100 lives have been lost in just two weeks, the majority pilgrims. Sixty-five devotees perished in Kishtwar when a cloudburst hit Chishoti village during the Machail Mata Yatra, while 30 others were killed in a deadly landslide near the Mata Vaishno Devi shrine in Katra.

The mounting toll has prompted the government to set up a committee to probe the Katra tragedy — tasked with determining the cause of the landslide, assessing rescue response, and recommending safety protocols to prevent such catastrophes in future.

Meanwhile, the human and material losses continue to climb. Officials estimate that the cloudbursts, flash floods, and landslides over the past weeks have destroyed property worth thousands of crores, leaving communities in ruins and survivors grappling with the scale of destruction.