Srinagar, Aug. 29 -- The flood threat abated in Kashmir after weather improved and water levels in river Jhelum started to recede on Thursday but the authorities said that next two weeks were crucial owing to the unexpected nature of monsoons. The Valley experienced dry weather on Thursday with bright sunshine in the afternoon in summer capital Srinagar after three days of intermittent rains and cloudy weather had dangerously swelled the river Jhelum and flooded low lying areas of south Kashmir and Srinagar. Officials said that from a dangerous level of 24 feet on Wednesday (3 pm), the water level of river Jhelum at Sangam in south Kashmir's Anantnag fell into the green zone of 17 feet on Thursday (3 pm). The levels at Ram Munshi Bagh in Srinagar were still above the alert level at 19.2 feet (3 pm on Thursday) but were receding at a good pace. "For now, the situation is normal. Water levels have receded at Ram Munshi Bagh and at Sangam as well. The weather advisory for the coming days is that the situation will remain like this but if there are predictions of rains, our teams will work round the clock (like yesterday)," said divisional commissioner, Kashmir, Anshul Garg, in a press conference. Flood was declared in Kashmir in the wee hours on Wednesday as Jhelum river swelled owing to intermittent rains on Tuesday and its waters slowly entered low-lying areas of south Kashmir and Srinagar city's Kursoo Rajbagh as the day had progressed prompting the authorities to put into action police and SDRF to help people evacuate. Garg said that the water levels in south Kashmir and Srinagar had reached a 10-year high. "There has been a lot of work on strengthening embankments of river Jhelum that is why we didn't find any erosion or spillover in past few days, although at Ram Munshi Bagh and Sangam, the level had reached to danger levels which were highest in the past 10 years," he said. "The situation was tough and we had to face some difficulties. Jhelum levels had elevated to alarming levels at Sangam and Ram Munshi Bagh but we kept up the monitoring. And we need to remain alert in future as well," he said. The divisional commissioner said that the next two weeks were crucial for the Himalayan valley where the flood of Jhelum in 2014 had deluded Srinagar city in the monsoon month of September. "The next 15-20 will be important for us as weather forecasts will continue to come up and will be shared. Many times we ignore them and don't look at them with seriousness. We need to monitor and follow our weather advisories and alerts for all the tributaries of Jhelum like Vishaw Nullah in Kulgam or Lidder in Pahalgam. We need to keep a watch on them. The people living near river banks need to remain cautious/ alert," he said. He said that the caution was owing to monsoon patterns which continue till September 20 across the country. "A monsoon pattern exists across the country and we experience that monsoon showers are expected anytime till September 20 after which the rainfall patterns decrease. The MeT department has not predicted any (major) showers till September 5 and has expected mainly dry weather. However, there may be occasional showers and that is why we need to remain cautious," he said. The administration has decided to keep its disaster teams, including magistrates, police officials, SDRF teams and irrigation and flood control teams, on the ground for the next 15-20 days. "This will remain a short term arrangement for the next 15-20 days or a month till the monsoon system doesn't recede," he said. "I will also invite suggestions for medium and long-term measures for how we can remain better prepared for such eventualities. There have also been directions from above for working on long-term solutions," he said. Garg said that the administration has augmented its efforts for disaster preparations and will keep improving. "The SDRF has augmented its number of boats and in future they will augment it further. Similarly the IFC dept has done commendable work in the restoration of some vulnerable spots along the Jhelum embankment. As of now, there are some 150 vulnerable spots on Jhelum as we see but most of them lived up to the expectations as there was no breach in Jhelum for the past 48 to 72 hours," he said. "The restoration works were good but there are challenges at some points for which our district teams and IFC teams will assess them to take corrective measures wherever necessary," he said. J&K chief minister Omar Abdullah on Thursday said that he needs to review what steps have been taken after 2014 floods to safeguard the city and where has the money for floods utilised. Omar said that due to improvement in weather, the flood threat has been averted. "In Kashmir as well as in Jammu lot of rains took place and flood waters have started receding. Almighty saved us this time. In Jammu it happens fast while in Kashmir it takes some time for the water to recede," he told reporters on the sidelines of a function in Srinagar. He said that had it rained more, we would have faced a situation like 2014. "I will sit with officials and review what steps were taken after the 2014 floods and where money for floods have been utilised. And has the carrying capacity of Jehlum and flood channel been increased. In 2014, after six and seven days of rain the city got submerged and here the situation was bad only after two days of rains. God has saved us," he said....