SRINAGAR: Flash floods and landslides caused by monsoon rains killed at least 19 people in India on Sunday (Jul 19), officials and local media said, as authorities mounted rescue operations in affected regions.
Eight people were killed in the northeastern state of Nagaland, next to Myanmar, while 11 others died in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir.
“We have recovered four of the eight bodies, and rescue work is ongoing,” Wennyei Konyak, district magistrate of Nagaland’s Mon district, told AFP.
At least 15 others were injured, he said.
Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah “expressed profound anguish over the massive flash flood in Rajouri” in the Jammu region of the territory, his office said in a statement.
The flood “has caused extensive damage to public and private property, including the bus stand, and disrupted countless lives”, his office added.
Indian broadcaster NDTV said at least 11 people died and “several others went missing” in Jammu.
Army personnel and state emergency responders rescued 11 people, including five children, in Jammu’s Rajouri district, the army said.
The India Meteorological Department warned on Sunday of the potential for “extremely heavy rainfall” in Jammu and Kashmir over the next two days.
Officials also announced the “temporary suspension” of the annual Hindu Amarnath pilgrimage in the Kashmir region.
The pilgrimage was suspended “in the interest of the safety and well-being of all” pilgrims, the local government said in a statement on Sunday.
It “will resume only after weather conditions improve and the routes are declared safe”, it added.
More than 400,000 Hindus took part in a month-long pilgrimage in the region last year.
Officials also suspended the Hindu pilgrimage to the Vaishno Devi shrine in Jammu, which receives millions of people each year.
Floods and related accidents are an annual occurrence across India during the monsoon months, which follow the region’s long summers, with many parts of the country facing severe water scarcity and drought-like situations.
