Srinagar, Aug 27: The gushing sound of water drowned the usual bustle of the neighbourhood at the old Raj Bagh bund.
As the muddy waters rose dangerously close to its Jhelum embankment, shopkeepers hurriedly packed their goods onto higher shelves. Some stuffed sacks of rice, flour, and clothes into small vans, fearing the worst.
“This is exactly how it began in 2014. The water came silently, and by the time we understood, everything was underwater,” said Bashir Ahmad Dar, a garment trader.
Across the low-lying areas, anxious families stood on terraces, scanning the darkening clouds that had been pouring relentlessly over Srinagar since Monday evening.
The memories of September 2014—the catastrophe that submerged large parts of the Valley, displaced thousands, and left behind scars etched deep in people’s psyche—returned with every fresh swirl of the furious Jhelum.
In nearby Jawahar Nagar and Mehjoor Nagar, residents climbed to rooftops to watch the swelling current, their faces tense. “We don’t want it anymore. We are yet to recover from the 2014 devastating floods. The authorities for years have been touting flood mitigation programmes and still are living on the edge,” said Sufyaan Ahmad Khan, a resident who was shifting his books, groceries to the third storey in Mehjoor Nagar.
On Wednesday, the water level in the Jhelum River at Ram Munshi Bagh, Srinagar, and other points crossed the flood alert mark, following which authorities put field teams on high alert and drew up contingency plans to deal with any emergency.
While it said that there was no need to panic and asked people to remain alert, locals rued that the government has done “less” to avert such disasters.
“It has been almost 11 years now, and yet our government has done nothing to ensure the safety of its people. What have the dredging, building of embankment, and flood mitigation programmes done? Smart City here has been confined to just installing lights and decorating a few markets,” said Basharat Mir, a local from Jawahar Nagar.