Powerful torrents driven by intense rainfall slammed into a Himalayan mountain village in Indian-administered Kashmir on Thursday, killing at least 37 people, a senior disaster management official told AFP. This marks the second major deadly flooding disaster in India this month.
Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah described the situation as grim, reporting a sudden “cloudburst” of heavy rain in the Kishtwar district.
At the local hospital in Kishtwar, crowds gathered as injured victims were carried in on stretchers. Mohammad Irshad, a top disaster management official, confirmed that 37 bodies had been recovered, though the number of missing persons remains unknown. He added that 150 wounded individuals were rescued from the site, including 50 severely injured, all transferred to nearby hospitals.
Eyewitness Sushil Kumar, a resident of the nearby Atholi village, told AFP, “I saw at least 15 dead bodies brought to the local hospital.” The district commissioner, Pankaj Kumar Sharma, warned that more bodies might still be found.
Pilgrims’ kitchen washed away
The disaster struck Chisoti village, located on a Hindu pilgrimage route to the Machail Mata shrine. Officials reported that a large makeshift kitchen hosting over 100 pilgrims — none of whom were registered with local authorities — was completely washed away by the floods.
Rescue efforts have been hampered by damaged roads caused by days of relentless storms. Soldiers have been deployed to assist the teams, but access to the remote area remains difficult. Chisoti lies more than 200 kilometers (125 miles) by road from Srinagar, the region’s main city.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi pledged that “every possible assistance will be provided to those in need.”
Earlier this month, floods swept through the Himalayan town of Dharali in Uttarakhand state, burying it in mud. The death toll from that disaster is expected to exceed 70 but remains unconfirmed.
Floods and landslides are common during the monsoon season, which runs from June to September. However, experts warn that climate change and poorly planned development are increasing their frequency and severity.
The UN’s World Meteorological Organization noted last year that more intense floods and droughts serve as a “distress signal” of the future, as climate change makes the global water cycle increasingly unpredictable.
AFP
