Flash floods following heavy rainfall hit Kathua and Samba districts of Jammu region where a man was feared  drowned and 15 people, most of them belonging to a nomadic community,  were rescued on Saturday, officials said.

Two siblings were washed away on Saturday morning when they tried  to cross an overflowing stream on their way home at Kameela village  in Vijaypur area of Samba district, a police official said.

He said while 30-year-old Nadiyal was rescued by locals and shifted  to a hospital, his elder brother Sain Lal remained untraced and was  feared drowned.

The body was not recovered so far despite a rescue operation by  local police and SDRF personnel.

Eleven people, belonging to a nomadic community, were stuck in flash  floods in Ujh river in Rajbagh area

and were subsequently rescued  by Kathua police along with SDRF personnel, the official said.

The rescued people were shifted to a safer location, he added. In another rescue operation near the Ujh river, policemen saved  three more members of the community near Pandori village in Kathua  district, the official said.

Heavy rains lashed several parts of Jammu region, raising water  level in major rivers, including in the Tawi, and leaving some low-lying  areas submerged.

Katra, the famous town which serves as the base camp for the pilgrims  visiting Vaishno Devi shrine in Reasi district, recorded the highest  133.4 mm rainfall since Friday night, a metrological department spokesperson  said.

He said Jammu recorded 27.8 mm rainfall since Friday night but the  data for the rainfall during the day was not available.

The mercury in most parts of Jammu and Kashmir nose dived due to  the torrential rains, with Jammu recording a high of 26.6 degrees  Celsius -- 6.7 notches below normal during this time of the season,  the spokesperson said, adding that the night temperature was near  normal at 24.4 degrees Celsius.

Katra recorded a maximum of 24.3 degrees Celsius and a minimum of 22.8 degrees Celsius, while Srinagar -- which witnessed light intermittent rains -- recorded a high of 21.9 degrees Celsius , 7.8 degrees below normal,  and a low of 15.9 degrees Celsius.