Cloudburst Warning at the Sindh Stream
You are posted at a police post in Kangan, Ganderbal district, on the Srinagar–Sonamarg road. At 4:10 p.m. on a July day, the control room relays a cloudburst warning for the upper Sindh catchment. Within minutes, the Sindh stream, which runs beside the road, turns muddy and loud. About 60 tourists are camping in tents on a flat meadow near the stream. Twelve local families live in a hamlet on the opposite bank, downstream. The only footbridge is already ankle-deep and rising. One tourist is a pregnant woman in her third trimester; an elderly man uses a walker. The school building on the slope above the road is unlocked and can hold 100 people. You have four constables, one wireless set, and a jeep. The SDRF team is 35 minutes away.
1. Set out your immediate priorities: who do you move first, where, and why?
Read the worked answer
Rank by time-to-danger, not by seniority or noise. The campers on the flat meadow beside the stream are in the immediate path of a flash flood; move them first to the school on the slope using the road, not the footbridge. The downstream hamlet must be warned at the same time, because a cloudburst surge can arrive with little notice: send a constable by jeep with a loudspeaker and ask the mosque/chowkidar to make an announcement.
Within the camp, move the pregnant woman and the elderly man by jeep first, but do not let the jeep shuttle delay the walking evacuation of the rest. Put one constable at the bridge to stop anyone crossing. The school is the assembly point because it is unlocked, above the road, and can hold 100. Do not wait for the SDRF; 35 minutes may be too late. The reasoning is that the flat meadow has the shortest warning time, while the school is the nearest safe high ground with capacity.
2. What message would you send to the control room, and how would you deploy your four constables?
Read the worked answer
Send a concise wireless message to the control room: exact location (Kangan, near the Sindh stream), number of people (60 tourists + 12 families), assembly point (school), access route, casualties, and the fact that the footbridge is unsafe. Request SDRF, a medical team and extra transport; ask for a public-address vehicle. Keep the wireless channel free for updates; use a runner or mobile phone only if the wireless fails.
Assign roles: one constable at the school to count and keep families together; one at the bridge; one with the jeep; one with you to check the tents. Ask local volunteers to guide people but not to enter the water. Update the control room every 10 minutes with numbers evacuated and missing persons. Keep a written list of names, especially of the pregnant woman and the elderly man. This division avoids everyone rushing to one spot and leaves no group unwarned.
3. What must you not do in this situation, and what human-rights considerations apply?
Read the worked answer
Do not use the footbridge or allow anyone to cross to the hamlet; do not send tourists to the opposite bank; do not try to drive the jeep through moving water; do not spread an unverified 'dam has broken' rumour, which causes panic. Do not separate families or send unaccompanied children with strangers. Do not wait for the SDRF before moving people to high ground.
Human-rights points: give priority to the pregnant woman, the elderly and any disabled person without abandoning the general evacuation; respect privacy during any medical check; keep a list of the dead/missing and inform families; ensure that local volunteers are not put in danger. After the evacuation, record the timeline and any damage for the station diary. The reasoning is that panic and unverified information cause more injuries than the flood itself, and vulnerable people need planned priority rather than chance.