As flood water recedes, people scramble to salvage whatever is

As the sun continues to play 'hide and seek' in the flood-ravaged Srinagar, 40-year-old Sumeet Kaul, a resident of Jawahar Nagar locality, was today busy drying her wedding photo album, as only memories remain of what once used to be her dwelling.
As the water level in some of the worst-affected areas of the city continue to recede, many people were seen trying their best to salvage whatever is left in their house.
With water still dripping from the photo album, Sumeet while showing a picture of her house says, "Now only memories remain of what once used to be our abode. The floods have taken away everything we had. This house too has now become unsafe to live in."

Tightly packed in two layers of polythene and locked in a wardrobe, the photo album of Sumeet's wedding was the only item in her house that survived the fury of the devastating floods of September 7.
Having seen the worst days of militancy in Kashmir, Sumeet's is one amongst a handful of Kashmiri Pandit families who decided against migration and stayed back in Kashmir when the armed insurgency started in late '80s.
"We never saw such a huge tragedy, my family is witness to some of the worst days in the Valley, but a tragedy of such a huge magnitude was unprecedented," she says, "Having lost everything, our lives will never be the same again."

Sumeet's husband Rajesh, who owned an electronic shop in Lal Chowk, the once bustling commercial hub of Srinagar, says that his entire business was ruined by the flood water as all the goods in his shop were destroyed.
"Nothing could be saved, we only saved our lives. After being trapped in the house and struggling for four days without food and water the locals saved us and now for the past 13 days we have been living in a Gurudwara at Barzulla Bagat," Rajesh said.
Even as water continued to recede, several localities in Srinagar including Raj Bagh, Jawahar Nagar are still under several feet of water.