At least 13 dead after flash floods hit Amarnath base camp in Baltal

One estimate says around 40 people are missing at the site

At least 13 people, mainly Amarnath pilgrims, have died and dozens went missing after flash floods caused landslips near the Baltal base camp in central Kashmir’s Ganderbal area on Friday.

An official said the flash floods occurred around 5.30 p.m. and washed away scores of tents. “At least 13 people are feared dead. The bodies are being retrieved and the missing being located,” a senior official said.

One estimate suggested that around 40 people are missing at the site of flash floods. Scores of injured were shifted to temporary medical camps set up in Baltal. “We are planning to shift the seriously injured to hospitals in Srinagar,” another official said.

The yatra has been stopped for the time being.

A top meteorologist told The Hindu that there is yet no confirmation that a ‘cloudburst’ was responsible for the flooding.

A cloudburst, said M. Mohapatra, Director General, India Meteorological Department, would mean rainfall in excess of 10 cm an hour whereas data from instruments at the Amarnath cave suggest that it was no more than 2.5 cm. “I can’t confirm that it was a cloudburst. However, it is possible that there was more rain in the northern stretches. But we have no measurements and so that cannot be confirmed.”

Cloudbursts are short-duration, intense rainfall events over a small area. The IMD defines it as a weather phenomenon with “unexpected precipitation” exceeding 100mm/h over a geographical region of approximately 20-30 square km.