J&K floods: Water levels recede, but no end to sufferings

SRINAGAR: As receding water levels started to reveal the extent of damages the devastating floods done to one of the most beautiful places on earth and the government set off to collect details of the catastrophe, stories of heartrending tragedies and uplifting heroism are flowing out of relief camps across the city.

“It was insane to see a husband quarrelling with his wife the moment they reunited,” says Basharat Ahmad, a banker who witnessed the couple meeting at a camp at Sanat Nagar after being rescued by different volunteers. “They started accusing each other for leaving their lone toddler behind.”

There were talks of a young girl in her bridal dress being laid to rest as an anonymous victim, and a mother whose corpse was fished out by villagers with her dead son tied to her back.

In Jawahar Nagar, one of the worst affected belts, flood waters tore apart a house where women were applying ‘hinna’ to a would-bebride whose would-be groom is now missing. In a Kulgam village, a minor was accidentally fished out alive, but is still unable to talk three days later.

People say the death toll will shoot up once water drains out. “I saw bodies floating almost daily,” said Qaisar Ahmad, a rescue and relief worker who was busy in Bemina-Batamaloo belt for four days. “There are lot many houses which have crumbled down.”