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Heavy rains hit Himalayas, spread havoc in India and Pakistan

Heavy rain swept across the Himalayas, killing at least 36 people in India over the past 24 hours and forcing authorities to open major dams, in turn triggering flood alerts on three rivers in neighbouring Pakistan.

In the deadliest single disaster, a landslide killed 33 people near the Hindu mountain shrine of Vaishno Devi on a pilgrim route in India-occupied Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday afternoon, officials said.

Three more people died as floodwaters burst the banks of rivers in the district of Doda and swamped low-lying areas, authorities added.

A view of a houseboat on the overflowing Jhelum River following heavy rain, in Srinagar, Indian-occupied Kashmir, on August 27. — Reuters
A view of a houseboat on the overflowing Jhelum River following heavy rain, in Srinagar, Indian-occupied Kashmir, on August 27. — Reuters

About 200 children were stranded on Wednesday after flood water engulfed a school building in the northern state of Punjab, local media said.

Vehicles tumbled off the Madhopur barrage over the Tawi river when parts of it collapsed after being lashed by heavy rain overnight into Wednesday morning, video images showed. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

Some highways linking Indian-occupied Jammu to the rest of India were also damaged.

Officials were battling to restore “almost non-existent” telecommunications services, Omar Abdullah, the chief minister of Indian-occupied Jammu and Kashmir, said.

“We had 612mm rainfall in [Indian-occupied] Jammu region since August 23 till today. This is 726pc above-normal rainfall in the region during this time of the year. It is the highest rainfall in the region since 1950,” Mukhtar Ahmad, Director at the India Meteorological Department in Srinagar, told Reuters.

Residents place sandbags to prevent the berm they built from being washed away as water levels rise in the Jhelum River following heavy rain, in Srinagar, Indian-occupid Kashmir, on August 27. — Reuters
Residents place sandbags to prevent the berm they built from being washed away as water levels rise in the Jhelum River following heavy rain, in Srinagar, Indian-occupid Kashmir, on August 27. — Reuters

There were forecasts for more rain and thunderstorms with gusty winds in mountainous Ladakh, and for heavy rain for Himachal Pradesh and Indian-occupied Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday.

Some water had begun to recede on Wednesday, but many rivers were still at dangerous levels, authorities said.

“The immediate priority is restoration of electricity, water supply and mobile services, for which the authorities have been working continuously overnight,” Jitendra Singh, India’s science and technology minister, said in a post on X.

Dams open

Over the border, flood water engulfed parts of Kartarpur Sahib, a famous Sikh temple in Pakistan’s Punjab, a rescue official told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

Pakistan has also battled monsoon rains in recent weeks, with more than 167,000 people displaced in Punjab, including 40,000 who left voluntarily after flood warnings since August 14.

The official death toll from Pakistan’s floods since the start of the monsoon season in late June stood at 804 on Wednesday, half of them in August.

India opened the gates of major dams on rivers in Indian-occupied Kashmir after the heavy rains, an Indian government source said.

Pakistan said it had received a warning from India about downstream flooding, and issued its own alert for three rivers flowing into its territory. India routinely releases water from its dams when they get too full, with the excess flowing into Pakistan.

Vehicles move along a flooded street following monsoon rains and rising water levels in Punjab’s Sialkot, on August 27. — Reuters
Vehicles move along a flooded street following monsoon rains and rising water levels in Punjab’s Sialkot, on August 27. — Reuters

Today, authorities said there had been a record increase in the levels of the Ravi, Chenab and Sutlej rivers in Pakistan.

Pakistan says New Delhi had passed on two earlier flood warnings since Sunday.

Header image: Damaged cemented blocks lie in the water beside an under-construction dam on the Tawi River, following heavy rainfall in Indian-occupied Jammu on August 27. — Reuters



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