J&K: Thermocol sheets saved many from drowning

Call it innovation or "jugaad" residents of various localities of the city used any object that could float, to save themselves. Items like thermocol, water storage tanks, inflatable beds and swimming pool

Srinagar: Thermocol flooring, inflatable swimming pool and bed and water storage tanks were used by the people in the flooded city to prevent themselves and others from drowning.

Call it innovation or "jugaad" residents of various localities of the city used any object that could float, to save themselves. Using an empty water storage tank as a floating device, Ghulam Qadir Lone, a resident of Bemina locality, not only saved his family from drowning but also members of seven other families.

"As the water level was rising and my double-storey house was about to submerge, I knew that I had to act to save our lives. So I decided to empty the water tank, plug its hole and use it as a floating device," Lone told PTI. He said that after saving his family, he returned to the locality and saved 26 members of seven other families.

Almost every household in Kashmir uses thermocol floorings to escape the severe cold in the winter season, "We never knew that a simple sheet of thermocol that we use to keep floors of our houses warm in winters would act as life saver for us," said Shabir Ahmed, a resident of Jawahar Nagar locality. Ahmed said that he used the bundle of thermocol to save his family members from the devastating flood, in which his three-storey house was submerged.

Some people used inflatable beds and swimming pools to keep afloat in the flooded waters. To save lives of many people who were stranded in their houses after the floods, many volunteers used household items to save the lives of others.

Kashmir slowly moving to normalcy

After eleven days, life is slowly returning to normalcy in Kashmir but the extent of damage caused by devastating floods is still unfolding. Several areas still remain marooned, but relief material is being sent to the people who have been temporarily shifted to some safe places within the flooded areas. People, who had left their marooned houses or were evacuated, were now going back to check the damage caused to their homes. Meanwhile, there have been reports of thefts in the vacant houses.

Jammu-Srinagar NH reopens

In a boost to relief efforts in the flood-ravaged Kashmir Valley, the Jammu-Sringar National Highway on Tuesday reopened for traffic after remaining closed for 13 days due to landslides triggered by incessant rains.