A devastating cloudburst in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kishtwar district has killed at least 65 people and left dozens more missing, according to India TV. The disaster hit Chositi village, one of the worst-affected areas, and sent flash floods through a crowded stretch on the Machail Mata Yatra route.
The source says the cloudburst struck suddenly on Thursday and swept away multiple structures, homes, trees and people. It describes a community kitchen crowded with devotees taking the direct impact of the flood surge, while large boulders carried by the water crushed homes and vehicles. The picture is one of a fast-moving mountain disaster, where there was little time to react once the torrent came down.
India TV reported that at least 65 people were killed, including two CISF personnel, and that search and rescue operations were still under way. The report also says many others remained missing and that heavy machinery had been deployed to clear fallen trees, rocks and damaged power lines. That work was being carried out by teams from the Army, NDRF, SDRF, police and local administration.
The scale of the emergency also extended into governance. Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah visited the site, met affected families and announced ex gratia support from the CM’s Relief Fund. The source says he also directed officials to restore essential infrastructure and services, underscoring how the disaster was now a relief-and-recovery challenge as much as a rescue operation.
Eyewitnesses described people chanting “Jai Mata Di” while trying to flee the incoming water, a detail that captures the shock of the moment without needing embellishment. The source says some people were swept away before onlookers’ eyes, while others were pulled out or escaped in time. Those are the kinds of human details that show why the event became so catastrophic so quickly.
The packet also says there had been weather warnings before the incident and that an inquiry would be held into whether preventive measures could have been taken. That remains an official question rather than a resolved answer, so this article does not assign negligence. It simply reports that warnings existed, an inquiry was mentioned and the flood toll was already severe.
With only one supplied report, the article is limited to the verified facts: a cloudburst, a deadly flood, a massive rescue effort and a continuing search for the missing. The numbers alone make clear that Kishtwar was facing one of the most serious mountain disaster scenes in the region. Cloudburst disasters are especially dangerous because they can overwhelm prepared routes in minutes, and the packet’s description of a crowded community kitchen makes clear how exposed people were when the flood hit. The fact that rescue teams from several agencies were involved shows how quickly the response had to scale up across a mountainous, damaged corridor.
The report also makes clear that the event is not just about the dead. Missing people, damaged roads and destroyed power lines turn the aftermath into a prolonged emergency. That is why the chief minister’s visit and the call to restore infrastructure matter: people still needed access, treatment and the ability to move through the area while the search continued.
