'I had no government for first 36 hours of the floods' : Omar Abdullah

"I had no government as the seat of the establishment was wiped out by the worst floods in over a century," Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said on Thursday, recalling the nightmare of the disaster that hit his state six days back. His own residence has no power supply, his cell phones have no connectivity but Omar is working out of a guest house where he has created a make-shift mini secretariat to direct rescue and relief operations.

The state's Finance Minister Abdul Rahim Rather was located on Thursday in the Taxation Office where he was holed up for five days, unable to come out because of surging floods and cut off from the world because of the communication black out. "My capital city (Srinagar) was taken out. My government was totally inundated. I had no government for the first 36 hours. I resumed operations of the government thereafter with six officers in a room," Omar told PTI here.

Recalling the devastation, Omar said, "The establishment was wiped out. The state Assembly building, the High Court, the police headquarters and hospitals are all under water. He was unable to contact most of his ministers in the first three days and still does not know the whereabouts of one or two ministers. Nor has he been able to contact the vast majority of legislators. His close aide and the Kashmir provincial President of the ruling National Conference Nasir Wani has moved into the chief minister's residence but is unable to meet his family which is holed up in a nearby hotel surrounded by water.