Srinagar: With the flood threat continuing to loom large over the valley, the Army has started the evacuation process in Srinagar as the city experienced fresh rainfall on Tuesday night. Resident have expressed their worry about the situation, saying they had suffered huge losses last time during the floods and are hoping it doesn't happen again.

"We are very scared, last time we had a very tough time and suffered huge losses. We hope it doesn't happen again," said a local resident.

Meanwhile, the soldiers of the engineering wing of army, who have been specially trained for flood rescue ops, have made four units in Srinagar and are ready if the situation deteriorates further. Each unit in Srinagar is having around 30 boats with a capacity of evacuating 17 persons at a time. Besides that life saving vests, dewatering pumps and JCBs have also been kept ready.

The rescue operation team will be assisted by a para-medical team to provide first aid to the flood victims. Lieutenant General Subrata Saha (GOC Chinar Corps) had earlier assured that all the arrangements are in place to deal with any emergency situation that may come up in the state.

Heavy rains and a landslide in the Valley have killed 17 people so far. Fifteen people were killed when a hillside collapsed onto a house in Ledhan village, about 40 km (25 miles) from Srinagar, before dawn on Monday. Army and police used shovels and diggers to search for the missing.

Police said two other people died in flash floods in another part of the state. Hundreds of people have fled their homes as Kashmir's main rivers began to swell and weather forecasters predicted further downpours in the region that was struck by devastating floods just seven months ago.