Srinagar, Sept. 5 -- Thousands of people were evacuated or moved to safer places after large swathes of land and residential areas were flooded when Jhelum river and its tributaries overflowed and breached its embankments across south and central Kashmir on Thursday.

After Jhelum crossed the danger mark in south Kashmir's Sangam and Srinagar's Ram Munshi Bagh, the water level in the river -- meandering from south to north Kashmir through Srinagar -- was still above the danger mark, though slowly receding owing to improvement in weather conditions.

Large low lying areas of south Kashmir particularly in Anantnag and Pulwama districts were filled with flood water during the night while Jhelum breached in central Kashmir's Budgam district p...