Udhampur (Jammu and Kashmir)

Strong winds sweeping through Udhampur since Thursday evening have caused significant property damage on Friday, though no casualties or injuries have been reported.

A century-old Peepal tree near the Peer Baba Jakhani shrine was uprooted, and a mobile tower installed on the roof of a private nursing home on Hospital Road also collapsed.

Sanjay Sharma, a resident of Jakhani, said, "The tree fell yesterday around 4 PM. Many residents of the neighbourhood park their cars and motorcycles here. Some vehicles sustained damage, with one motorcycle suffering particularly severe damage. The small structure housing the 'Pir Baba' shrine was also damaged."

He added, "Had that tower collapsed onto someone, the casualties could have been immense. I have witnessed such a severe storm for the first time. As for the tree, it was very old. I have lived here for 40-42 years. Whenever the power went out or something happened, people would mostly gather right here."

This recent bout of strong winds brought some respite to the region, following the intense heatwave and a series of forest fires that hit Udhampur a few days earlier.

On Wednesday, an intense heatwave gripped the region, which triggered a series of forest fires, with the latest blaze reported in the Rang forest area of Ramnagar.

This incident is part of a broader struggle for local forest authorities, who are contending with a spike in fire activity as temperatures soar. According to Naresh Majotra, the Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) of Ramnagar, the department has recorded twenty-one fire incidents since the season began on May 22.

"So far this season--specifically since the first incident occurred on May 22nd--there have been a total of twenty-one incidents, ranging from minor to major," Majotra said.

Highlighting the department's response to the crisis, the DFO added, "We have established around eleven control rooms across various areas, and our entire forest staff is deployed in the field at all times; they remain on-site even in areas where no fire is currently burning."

Explaining the challenges faced by ground teams, Majotra noted that erratic wind conditions have severely hampered containment efforts.

"As I mentioned, there have been twenty-one cases in total. In seven or eight of these instances, we managed to bring the fire under control, but then the wind conditions worked against us--the wind often complicates matters rather than helping," he explained.

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The DFO further cautioned that the threat of reignition remains high due to the topography and nature of the forest floor.

He said, "Even if we extinguish the flames, a stray spark or a smouldering pine cone can roll into an unburnt area and reignite the fire."