Rescue teams searched for missing people as landslides, flash floods and suspended pilgrimages underscored the dangers of India’s active monsoon season.
At least 25 people have been killed in floods and landslides across northern and northeastern India after days of torrential monsoon rain, local officials said.
Several deadly incidents were reported over the weekend in Indian-administered Kashmir and the northeastern state of Nagaland, officials said on Monday.
At least 15 people were killed in rain-related incidents across Kashmir’s Poonch, Rajouri and Doda districts, while several others remained missing, according to a senior police official. In Nagaland, multiple landslides caused by persistent rainfall killed nine people.
“We have recovered four of the eight bodies, and rescue work is ongoing,” Wennyei Konyak, the magistrate of Nagaland’s Mon district, told AFP, adding that at least 15 others had been injured.
A flash flood in Rajouri, in the Jammu region, caused extensive damage to public and private property and disrupted countless lives, the office of Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said in a statement.
Army personnel and state emergency responders rescued 11 people, including five children.
In neighbouring Assam state, one person died in flooding on Sunday, according to the state disaster management body. More than 57,000 people across seven districts had been affected, it said.
India’s weather office warned that Jammu and Kashmir could face further extremely heavy rainfall in the coming days, with active monsoon conditions expected to continue across the region for up to a week.
Authorities also temporarily suspended the annual Amarnath pilgrimage, which attracted more than 400,000 Hindus last year, and the Vaishno Devi pilgrimage in Jammu. Officials cited the safety of devotees and said the suspensions would remain in place until the routes were declared safe.
Flooding and related accidents occur annually across India during the monsoon months that follow the region’s long summers, while many parts of the country also experience severe water scarcity and drought.
