Sunday’s cloudburst had triggered landslides and flash floods in Ramban, killed five people, flattened homes, buried vehicles under mud and battered stretches of the national highway into rubble.

But Mashkoor had a promise to keep to his would-be bride.

The young groom got off his car on Monday morning and walked 10km past mounds of debris on rutted roads, littered with animal carcasses, entombed vehicles and ravaged shops.

Mashkoor clawed his way past a roaring Chenab that had gobbled up parts of the swanky Srinagar-Jammu national highway.

When he spoke to The Telegraph on Monday evening, Mashkoor was a deeply satisfied man, having brought his newlywed wife home safely.

“The most awaited journey of my life turned into the most difficult one. But thank God, we are all safe home,” Mashkoor said from his village near Nashri.

He wasn’t the only gallant groom undeterred by the devastation wreaked on Jammu’s Ramban district by Sunday’s storm.

“We encountered around half-a-dozen grooms making the journey on foot to get their brides,” Mashkoor said.

His father Rehmatullah Shan said: “It was a frightening journey. But we had promised the bride’s family we would be there.”

Shan said the bride’s home was 75km away. Knowing well that the journey would be unsafe, the 18-strong groom’s party set off early at 6am.

They had to leave their cars on the Ramban flyover, ahead of a destroyed stretch of highway, and start walking. After a 10km walk, they were greeted by a waiting fleet of cars sent by the bride’s family. They reached the bride’s home in Neep Top village, atop a mountain, by midday.

“For nearly 10km, the road was completely damaged. We walked all this distance. At places, it was difficult to move. But we are mountain people who know how to maneouvre our way on such tracks,” Shan said.

“There had been numerous landslides. Around a dozen cattle lay interred under the debris at one place. We also found a truck loaded with beehives trapped under a mound, with most of the bees possibly dead.”

He added: “This is a landslide-prone area, but I never witnessed suchdestruction before.”

Mashkoor said they could see, from a distance, two cows struggling to pull themselves out of the rubble. He added that it would have been difficult to extricate them.

“One of them had died by the time we passed through the spot on our return journey in the evening. The other was still struggling.”

The landslides shut the Jammu-Srinagar national highway for a second day, cutting the Valley off from the rest of the country.

Chief minister Omar Abdullah sought the Centre’s help and his father and party chief Farooq Abdullah requested that a national disaster be declared and the maximum assistance provided. Mehbooba Mufti, leader of the Opposition PDP,blamed deforestation.

Omar arrived in Maroog, one of the affected villages, on Monday for stock-taking, making part of the trip on foot.