Houses vanished under rubble and floodwater in the Jodh Ghati area of Kathua district, Jammu and Kashmir, overnight between Saturday and Sunday. By Sunday, Aug. 17, 2025, officials counted at least seven dead and five injured after two separate cloudburst and landslide incidents.
Five people died in Jodh Ghati, where the cloudburst cut off access to the village and damaged houses. Two more died in a rain-triggered landslide at Janglote. Landslides also struck Bagard and Changda villages, under Kathua police station, and Dilwan-Hutli in the Lakhanpur police station area, though officials reported no major damage there.
Damage was reported on the Jammu-Pathankot National Highway. Footage seen by India Today TV showed a Kathua police station completely submerged, and a railway track was also damaged.
Army columns and helicopters
Several Army columns were sent in to reach stranded people and get the injured to hospital. An Army helicopter working in Ghatti airlifted 15 people, and Dhruv helicopters flew injured patients to a hospital in Pathankot, Punjab. Troops from Rising Star Corps worked on the ground with police, the State Disaster Response Force and local residents, handing out food and medical care to families. A joint police and SDRF team was rushed to the village.
The rain pushed up water levels in most water bodies, and the Ujh river was running near the danger mark. The district administration asked people to stay away from water bodies.
Officials respond
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah expressed grief over the deaths and promised all necessary assistance. An official statement from his office put the toll at four at that point.
Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha wrote on X that he was “deeply anguished” and called the tragedy “mind-numbing.” He said he had briefed Union Home Minister Amit Shah and directed senior civil and police officials to coordinate rescue and aid, including on-site medical help. Shah said National Disaster Response Force teams had been rushed to the site and promised every support from the central government.
The Kathua deaths came days after a similar disaster in Kishtwar that left more than 60 dead earlier in the week. Hundreds of people there remained missing after flash floods swept the route of the Machail Mata Yatra to the Himalayan shrine of Mata Chandi. Officials said 167 injured people had been rescued, 38 of them in serious condition, and many more were believed trapped.
