Rescue efforts continue after heavy rains unleash havoc in northern India
«More than 800 people were evacuated from the low-lying areas of Kangra near the Pong Dam, as their villages became inaccessible due to the elevated water level in the dam reservoir,» tweeted the Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu of the northern state of Himachal Pradesh, EFE reports.
«Evacuation operation is still on as more people are being evacuated,» he added.
Heavy rains have lashed Himachal Pradesh and neighboring Uttarakhand since Sunday, causing significant damage to life and property.
Some 700 roads have been blocked, while several buildings have collapsed due to landslides and water currents as rivers overflowed their banks.
The rains have left 60 people dead in Himachal Pradesh since the weekend, Sukhu told India’s ANI agency, taking the total number of deaths in the region to over 300 since July after the onset of the monsoon season.
Footage on social media shows many of the landslides, which have dozens of homes and other structures such as Hindu temples in this mountainous state.
Local authorities, as well as members of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and the Army, have been involved in rescue efforts to evacuate potential wounded and missing persons, which amount to nearly a dozen in Shimla district, according to NDRF Officer B.S. Rajput.
The India Meteorological Department warned that isolated but intense rains will continue to fall in the region over the next two days.
Heavy rainfall is expected to continue until Sunday in Uttarakhand, where authorities are working to airlift dozens of people trapped, the state’s Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said on Twitter.
Heavy rains cause significant human and material losses in South Asian countries every year, especially during the monsoon period between May and September.
