Srinagar, Jun 22: Extreme weather activity continued across Kashmir on Monday as intense thundershowers, hailstorms and flash floods affected several areas, damaging orchards and standing crops and bringing temperatures down across the valley.
Several parts of Kashmir, including Srinagar city, received heavy rainfall during the afternoon, leading to a significant drop in daytime temperatures.
Officials said hailstorms were reported from parts of Srinagar, Anantnag and Tral in Pulwama district.
Residents of several villages in Tral witnessed hailstones pounding rooftops, orchards, paddy and vegetable fields.
The hailstorm affected Pinglish, Ladibal, Zarihad Nagbal and Aripal villages - Khangund, Sofigund, Sathoora, Gutroo, Naristan and adjoining areas—during the afternoon hours, damaging apple orchards and standing crops, including vegetables.
“The storm damaged orchards and vegetable fields across the area,” said Fayaz Ahmad, a farmer from Tral.
He said this was the second or third such weather event in many villages this season and apple orchards had suffered extensive damage.
Ghulam Muhammad, a 65-year-old orchardist from Mandoora village, said hailstones first struck his 6-Kanal orchard during the flowering stage and then struck again twice over the past month.
“In certain villages the damage is more than 80 percent,” he said. “All our hard work has been wasted.”
Muhammad said growers spend lakhs of rupees on sprays and fertilisers through Kisan Credit Card (KCC) loans, only to see crops damaged by repeated hailstorms.
“This year it hit us during the flowering stage and again twice in the last month when the fruit started growing. Last year it came at the ripening stage- when the fruit was almost ready,” he said.
For nearly three months, Kashmir has witnessed recurring spells of extreme weather—including hailstorms, intense thunderstorms, lightning strikes, gusty winds and flash floods—causing widespread damage to orchards and standing crops including paddy and vegetables across north, central and south Kashmir.
Growers said repeated weather events have increased losses and debt, particularly in the absence of crop insurance.
“Hailstorms, lightning, and cloudbursts occurred earlier too, but not this frequently,” said Abdul Rashid, an orchardist from Shopian. “There was a time when rain continued for days without causing much damage. Now almost every rainfall brings destruction.”
Kashmir’s horticulture sector, particularly apple cultivation, supports thousands of families and forms a major component of the Valley’s economy.
Shopian, Sopore, Baramulla, Kulgam, Pulwama and the Bijbehara-Pahalgam apple valley belt contribute a major share of the Valley’s apple production.
Apart from damaging crops, the extreme, erratic weather events-including lightning strikes, cloudbursts, flash floods and gusty winds—have also claimed lives, killed livestock and damaged property in different parts of Kashmir.
On Monday afternoon flash floods triggered by heavy rainfall in Sofigund village of Tral led to landslides, while water entered several houses and damaged paddy fields.
In North Kashmir’s Baramulla district, flash floods triggered by intense rain and a cloudburst in upper reaches caused the Ningli stream to swell, inundating roads and damaging paddy crops in several villages including Nowpora-Jageer and Marigund.
Intense thundershowers and gusty winds have been damaging houses, shops vehicles, and other infrastructure in different parts of Kashmir in recent weeks, with several rooftops blown away during storms.
In many areas, gusty winds uprooted trees, including fruit-bearing apple trees.
Meanwhile, the heavy downpour led to waterlogging in several localities of Srinagar, with some areas inundated due to the accumulation of rainwater.
Authorities later launched dewatering operations in the affected areas.
The temperatures across Kashmir witnessed a dip following the rainfall, even as the Meteorological (MeT) Department forecast more convective weather activity in the coming days.
Srinagar recorded a maximum temperature of 26.6 degrees Celsius, 2.6 degrees below normal for this time of the year. Qazigund recorded 25.2 degrees Celsius, 2.2 degrees below normal, while Pahalgam recorded 21.6 degrees Celsius, 3.2 degrees below normal.
Kupwara recorded 26.5 degrees Celsius, 3.2 degrees below normal; Kokernag 25.3 degrees Celsius, 1.9 degrees below normal; and Gulmarg 17 degrees Celsius, three degrees below normal.
“Generally dry weather is expected from June 23 to June 26, although brief spells of light rain, thundershowers and gusty winds cannot be ruled out,” a MeT official said.
He said partly to generally cloudy weather is expected from June 27 to June 29, with light rain and brief intense thundershowers accompanied by gusty winds at scattered places.
The MeT Department said intermittent convective weather activity is likely to continue during the week.