Appealing to the people of the flood hit state to not panic, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Sunday said that the flood situation was improving in Jammu region, but it continues to remain grim in the case of Kashmir.
"In case of Jammu the water level is decreasing slowly. We will now focus more on relief and rehabilitation than on rescue efforts," said the Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister.
"The situation is slowly going back to normalcy in Jammu while in Kashmir the situation has become worse. Especially situation is still worse in Srinagar. Our priority is to save people, have talked to Cabinet Secretary in the morning for boats and rescue teams."
"I appeal people to not panic and stay above water level, we will definitely reach out to them," he said.
Abdullah also added that the Cabinet Secretary has assured that at least 40-50 boats will be sent to Srinagar and they are being accumulated from Patna, Gandhinagar and Ghaziabad.
Along with that rescue teams, divers, flood lights, search lights will be sent so that during the night also the rescue efforts could continue, he said.
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The J-K Chief Minister also explained that four senior officers of principal secretary rank will be deployed- two each for Jammu and Kashmir- to streamline damage assessment and to ensure relief reaches to people.
Regarding the death toll from the flash floods, Abdullah said, "Every hour the death toll changes, as of now 110 people have died. The bus mishap that took place near Rajouri we cannot estimate the death toll unless the dead bodies were recovered."
He added that as the bodies are recovered the death toll will also be revised.
Incessant rains resulting in mud slides, flash floods and rising of water level in all rivers of Jammu and Kashmir have left thousands of people stranded across the state.
The floods have affected 2,325 villages, of which, nearly 350 have been submerged. Rescue and relief operations are going on in full swing.
Services of the army, the air force, the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) have been requisitioned.
About 22 IAF helicopters and four aircrafts have been deployed for evacuating the stranded population and providing necessary relief support. About 130 army columns and eight teams of NDRF with necessary equipment such as boats, satellite phones, life jackets etc. are in position.
These teams have so far rescued nearly 11,000 people. In addition, services of Border Security Force (BSF) personnel have also been requisitioned, wherever necessary.