At least 18 dead as monsoon rains cause landslides, flooding in India - UPDATED
Heavy rainfall over the past two days triggered landslides and widespread flooding in India's northeast and south, killing at least 18 people and affecting thousands of others, officials said Saturday.
Torrential rains hit the northeastern states of Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Mizoram and Tripura, News.Az reports, citing foreign media.
According to the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA), five people were killed due to a landslide in Kamrup Metropolitan district. The ongoing flooding affected more than 10,000 people in six districts.
Authorities have set up two relief camps and one distribution center for the affected population.
"Due to heavy to very heavy rainfall in several districts of Assam, the rivers are flowing above danger level with a rising trend, prompting flood alerts in vulnerable areas," ASDMA in a statement, said. "Very heavy rainfall is likely to continue over the next two to three days."
Reports said that amid heavy rain and gusty winds, a red alert remains in effect for 18 districts of the state.
In the adjacent state of Mizoram, several people are feared dead after five houses and a hotel were hit by a devastating landslide at Lawngtlai town.
According to India's state-run broadcaster, All India Radio, authorities have launched rescue efforts to trace the missing trapped beneath the rubble.
Mizoram has been experiencing heavy rain since Friday, leading to landslides and rockfalls in several areas.
In Meghalaya, three people died in East Khasi Hills district due to rain-related incidents.
Over 1,000 residents across 25 villages have been affected by landslides, flash floods, and power outages. Flooding also damaged roads and inundated schools in the affected districts.
Reports said Nagaland and Tripura each reported one death due to rain-related incidents on Friday.
In the northern state of Uttarakhand, a 38-year-old man died and five others were injured after a landslide struck a vehicle on the Kedarnath national highway near Kund in Rudraprayag district.
In the southwestern state of Karnataka, at least seven people were killed in rain-related incidents. Heavy rain accompanied by strong winds lashed the coastal district of Dakshina Kannada, bordering Kerala.
According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), heavy rainfall with sustained winds is expected to continue in Dakshina Kannada and Kodagu districts until Monday.
(11:41)
Torrential monsoon rains in India's northeast triggered landslides and floods that swept away and killed at least five people in Assam, disaster officials said Saturday.
India's annual monsoon season from June to September offers respite from intense summer heat and is crucial for replenishing water supplies, but also brings widespread death and destruction, News.Az reports, citing AFP.
The deaths recorded are among the first of this season, with scores often killed over the course of the rains across India, a country of 1.4 billion people.
The monsoon is a colossal sea breeze that brings South Asia 70-80 percent of its annual rainfall.
Rivers swollen by the lashing rain -- including the mighty Brahmaputra and its tributaries -- broke their banks across the region.
But the intensity of rain and floods has increased in recent years, with experts saying climate change is exacerbating the problem.
Assam State Disaster Management Authority officials on Saturday confirmed five deaths in the last 24 hours.
A red alert warning had been issued for 12 districts of Assam after non-stop rains over the last three days led to flooding in many urban areas.
The situation was particularly bad in the state capital Guwahati.
City authorities have disconnected the electricity in several districts to cut the risk of electrocution.
Several low-lying areas of Guwahati were flooded, with hundreds of families forced to abandon homes to seek shelter elsewhere.
Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said his government had deployed rescue teams.
"We have been reviewing the impending situation for the last three days", he said in a statement, saying that supplies of rice had been dispatched as food aid.
South Asia is getting hotter and in recent years has seen shifting weather patterns, but scientists are unclear on how exactly a warming planet is affecting the highly complex monsoon.
On Monday, lashing rains swamped India's financial capital Mumbai, where the monsoon rains arrived some two weeks earlier than usual, the earliest for nearly a quarter century, according to weather forecasters.
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