11 killed in landslides, cloudburst in Jammu and Kashmir’s Reasi, Ramban

Mangalore Today News Network

Srinagar, Aug 30, 2025: At least 11 people, including seven members of a single family, were killed in two separate incidents of landslides triggered by heavy rains and a cloudburst in Jammu and Kashmir’s Reasi and Ramban districts, officials said on Saturday.

In Reasi district’s remote Mahore area, tragedy struck Baddar village overnight when a massive landslide buried the home of Nazir Ahmad, 38. Ahmad, his wife, and their five children—aged between five and 13—were all killed after their house collapsed under tonnes of mud and debris. Rescue teams, battling rain and slush, recovered the bodies on Saturday morning.

In Ramban district’s Rajgrah village, a cloudburst unleashed flash floods and triggered a landslide that swept away five people. The sudden deluge also damaged several houses and struck a local school, though no children were inside at the time. The bodies of four victims were found, while searches continue for a missing person feared dead.

The fresh fatalities highlight the human cost of the extreme weather conditions that have ravaged Jammu and Kashmir over the past three weeks. More than 160 people, including pilgrims to the Mata Vaishno Devi shrine have died in cloudbursts, flash floods and landslides since the second week of August.

Just days earlier, 34 Vaishno Devi pilgrims were killed when a cloudburst and landslides devastated parts of the yatra route in the Katra area of Reasi. In Udhampur, record-breaking rainfall of 629 mm in a single day triggered landslides that buried dozens and left widespread destruction.

The infrastructure damage has been equally crippling. Train services between Katra—the base camp for Vaishno Devi pilgrims—and the rest of the country remained suspended for the fifth consecutive day due to flooding and track damage. The all-important Srinagar–Jammu National Highway, Kashmir’s lifeline, is closed at multiple stretches where landslides and cave-ins have washed away large sections of the road.

Officials said it was unclear when the highway would reopen, raising fears of shortages of essential commodities in the Valley.

The weather office has warned of more rainfall in the coming days, keeping authorities and residents on edge. The administration has moved heavy machinery to clear blocked roads and has deployed rescue teams to vulnerable areas.

Experts warn that the frequency and intensity of such extreme weather events in Jammu and Kashmir have risen sharply in recent years, echoing fears of climate change compounding the region’s vulnerability. “The Valley and surrounding hills are extremely fragile, and the scale of destruction this monsoon has exposed how unprepared our systems remain,” a disaster management official admitted.