Flash floods kill at least 4 in IIOJK, dozens missing

SRINAGAR:

Dozens of villagers were missing in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) on Wednesday after flash floods destroyed their houses, killing at least four people, officials said.

More than 160 people have died in India during the past week as a result of heavy rains.

The Indian army and State Disaster Response Force have joined the search, federal minister Jitendra Singh said on Twitter, with some 36 people unaccounted for after the torrents of water swept down a narrow valley in the Kishtwar district of IIOJK.

Hilly areas in northern India like Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand are likely to receive heavy to very heavy rainfall this week, the India Meteorological Department said.

On July 26, it was reported that rescue teams in India were digging through thick sludge and debris to find over 60 people trapped in landslides caused by torrential monsoon rains.

The western states of Maharashtra and Goa, as well as Karnataka and Telangana in the south are the most affected by heavy rains that have flooded croplands over thousands of hectares and forced authorities to move over 230,000 people to safer places.

In Maharashtra, 149 people have died mainly in landslides and other monsoon related accidents, while another 64 are still missing, the state government said in a statement.

"We are trying hard to rescue people trapped under landslide debris in Raigad and Satara but the possibility of evacuating them alive is remote. They are trapped under mud for more than three days," said a senior official with the state government, referring to two badly affected districts.