Record monsoon rains kill more than 100 people in northern India
NEW DELHI — Schools and colleges were closed after record monsoon rains led to massive waterlogging, road cave-ins, collapsed homes and gridlocked traffic in large parts of northern India this week, killing more than 100 people, officials said Thursday.
At least 88 people died and more than 100 were injured in the worst hit-state of Himachal Pradesh, a mountainous region where cars, buses, bridges and houses were swept away by swirling floodwaters, a government statement said. The region is nearly 310 miles north of New Delhi.
Twelve people have died of rain-related incidents since Wednesday in Uttar Pradesh state, said Shishir Singh, a government spokesman there. Nine drowned, two died after being struck by lightning and one was killed by a snakebite.
One person died in New Delhi and four were killed in the Indian-controlled section of Kashmir, officials said.
Authorities used helicopters to rescue nearly 300 people, mostly tourists, who were stranded in the Chandertal area in Himachal Pradesh since Saturday. They included seven sick people who were airlifted Tuesday, the government said.
Nearly 170 houses have collapsed, and 600 others were partially damaged by heavy rains and landslides in Himachal Pradesh, the state emergency operation center said.
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In New Delhi, residential areas close to the Yamuna River were flooded, submerging roads, cars and homes and leading to the evacuation of thousands of people from low-lying areas.
Dozens of cars were blocked by sheets of water, throwing traffic into disarray during the morning rush hour in New Delhi on Thursday.
The water level of the Yamuna through the Indian capital topped a 40-year record and reached 681.5 feet Wednesday evening, according to a statement by the office of New Delhi’s top elected official, Arvind Kejriwal.
Authorities have moved nearly 30,000 people to relief camps and converted some schools into relief camps in the badly hit areas, the statement said. Hundreds of people have taken shelter with their livestock under overhead road bridges in the eastern parts of the Indian capital.
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Rajesh Singh, a factory owner, was stuck with his motorbike for hours, with floodwater blocking both sides of the road near the river bank. “I have never seen anything like this in the past 22 years,” he said.
India’s weather agency has forecast more heavy rains in northern parts in the coming days. It said monsoon rains across the country have already brought about 2% more rainfall than normal.
India regularly witnesses severe floods during the monsoon season, which runs between June and September and brings most of South Asia’s annual rainfall. The rains are crucial for rain-fed crops planted during the season but often cause extensive damage.
Scientists say monsoons are becoming more erratic because of climate change and global warming, leading to frequent landslides and flash floods in India’s Himalayan north.
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