Assam, Kerala, Jammu and Kashmir and Jharkhand are among the hardest-hit areas as extreme rain, floods and lightning add to the monsoon toll.
More than 100 people have died across India since July as severe monsoon downpours triggered floods and landslides, with climate change and El Nino disrupting rainfall patterns.
The deaths have been reported across several states, with Assam suffering the heaviest toll. At least 87 people have died in the northeastern state, including 47 in Sivasagar district alone.
Kerala has recorded at least 15 deaths, while seven people remain missing after several days of heavy rainfall, Chief Minister VD Satheesan said. More than 10,000 people have taken shelter in over 300 relief camps across the southern state.
Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir has reported at least 31 deaths caused by intense bursts of rain, according to a report by the public state broadcaster.
In the eastern state of Jharkhand, lightning strikes have killed at least 14 people, most of them farm workers caught in open fields.
Jharkhand recorded more than 200 deaths in 2025, mainly attributed to “lightning associated with thunderstorms”, the India Meteorological Department said in January.
Monsoon-related deaths occur annually across India after the region’s long summers, when many parts of the country experience drought and water scarcity.
The extreme weather pattern has also affected countries beyond India.
In Sri Lanka, monsoon flooding has killed at least eight people and displaced 12,000. The flooding occurred while eastern parts of the country were experiencing a severe drought, forcing authorities to transport drinking water to residents in tanker trucks.
Sri Lanka’s government said last month that the extreme weather was linked to this year’s El Nino, a climate pattern that raises surface temperatures in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific.
El Nino develops when the normal east-to-west trade winds weaken or reverse, pushing warm water eastward and significantly disrupting global weather and rainfall.
Source: Reuters
