Midnight deluge triggers third major landslide in Doda-Kishtwar in 48 hours, burying vehicles and damaging dozens of houses, shops. Jammu: Flash floods triggered by heavy rainfall struck the upper reaches of Thathri town in Jammu and Kashmir’s Doda district early on Tuesday, burying cars and forcing mud, rocks, and debris down onto commercial and residential areas. While extensive structural damage occurred across the town, no loss of life has been reported.A landslide triggered by incessant rainfall damaged houses and left boulders strewn across a residential area in Thathri town of Doda district on Tuesday. (PTI Photo)According to a preliminary official assessment by Thathri tehsildar Satish Rana, at least 10 houses and 25 shops sustained substantial damage from the sliding mud and debris. “A heavy downpour started around midnight, bringing down massive debris that entered residential quarters and commercial structures,” Rana said.Local resident Shamauddin recalled waking up to the sound of torrential rain at 12:30am before the main deluge hit. “Around 3am, a flood came in and swept everything away. The conditions were terrifying,” he said. Eyewitnesses described seeing multiple buildings damaged, crushed vehicles upturned, and others appearing to sink completely into the thick mud. Some residents claimed that a few cars were swept directly into the nearby Chenab river, though the exact count of vehicles lost remains under official verification.A resident walking through boulders and debris strewn across a locality at Thathri after the midnight mayhem. (PTI Photo)The incident marks the third flashf lood to hit the mountainous twin districts of Doda and Kishtwar within a 48-hour span, a pattern exacerbated by extreme precipitation. According to data from the India Meteorological Department (IMD), Doda received 26.6mm of rainfall on Monday alone—drastically exceeding its normal daily baseline of 4.1 mm. Neighbouring districts of Kishtwar, Udhampur, Reasi, Ramban, Samba, and Kathua also recorded heavy rainfall.The latest deluge blocked the Doda-Kishtwar highway at Thathri, disrupting regional traffic. The district administration, alongside the state police and allied agencies, launched clearing operations to restore connectivity.Doda deputy commissioner Krishan Lal said that response teams cleared a secondary hill slope slide in the Prem Nagar area of Thathri tehsil, alongside debris on roads in Chiralla tehsil and the Bagna link road.Residents walking through the rubble after the flash flood brought boulders down the hill into the town of Thathri in Doda district on Tuesday. (PTI Photo)Lal appealed to the public to stay calm and ignore cloudburst rumours on social media. “It is incorrect to describe such incidents as cloudbursts. These are intense episodes of heavy rainfall, which frequently cause mud and loose stones to slide down vulnerable slopes in hilly districts,” he said, urging citizens to cross-check information via the district control room.The disaster in Thathri comes a day after an identical landslide near the under-construction 540 MW Kwar Hydroelectric Power Project in Kishtwar district. Developed by Chenab Valley Power Projects Limited (CVPPL) along the Chenab river, that incident buried several utility vehicles and damaged parts of the highway, though there was no casualty.Slush and debris in a marketplace of Thathri on Tuesday morning. (PTI Photo)The IMD has extended a weather warning across the Jammu division till July 8, forecasting cloudy skies with light to moderate rain and thundershowers. It warned that brief, intense early morning and afternoon downpours could trigger additional localised flash floods, landslides, and mudslides across the Chenab Valley and Pir Panjal Range.A principal correspondent, Ravi Krishnan Khajuria is the bureau chief at Jammu. He covers politics, defence, crime, health and civic issues for Jammu city.