Heavy rains have battered Jammu for the past several days, leaving a trail of devastation across the region. At least 36 people have lost their lives in rain-related incidents, including 32 Mata Vaishno Devi pilgrims who died after a massive landslide struck the Yatra route near Adhkuwari on Tuesday afternoon.

According to officials, Jammu recorded 380 mm of rainfall in the past 24 hours, marking the highest 24-hour rainfall in 115 years since the establishment of the observatory. The situation prompted large-scale rescue operations, with teams from SDRF, NDRF, paramilitary forces, the Indian Army, and the Air Force working in close coordination with civil authorities. Thousands of residents were evacuated from low-lying flood-hit areas as torrential rain continued for the fourth consecutive day.

Communication services suffered a major blow as mobile internet connectivity was severely disrupted in multiple districts. Former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah expressed concern over the outage, stating that the situation felt similar to previous crises. He noted that only minimal data was available on certain networks like Jio, while fixed-line WiFi and BSNL fibre connections were also offline. Following the blackout, the Ministry of Communications directed telecom operators to activate Intra Circle Roaming (ICR) to restore mobile connectivity.

Meanwhile, several rivers, including Chenab and Tawi, are flowing close to danger levels. Continuous rainfall caused a portion of the Fourth Tawi Bridge in Jammu’s Bhagwati Nagar to collapse on Tuesday, with dramatic visuals of vehicles plunging into the river circulating online.

Traffic on the Jammu-Srinagar and Kishtwar-Doda national highways has been suspended due to multiple landslides, while dozens of hill roads remain blocked or damaged. All government and private schools in the Jammu division have been ordered to remain closed until August 27.

The Indian Air Force has deployed a C-130 transport aircraft carrying relief material and aid for affected people. Rescue operations continue near the Vaishno Devi Shrine route to assist stranded pilgrims and residents.