NEW DELHI (BN24) — Torrential rains sweeping across northern India have unleashed floods and landslides that killed at least 34 people, destroyed infrastructure, and cut off key services, officials and local media said Wednesday, warning that more heavy rainfall is expected in the coming days.
Authorities said the deadliest incident occurred Tuesday near the revered Vaishno Devi shrine, a Hindu pilgrimage site in the Himalayan foothills, where a massive landslide buried parts of the route and killed at least 30 people. The tragedy marked the latest in a series of deadly weather events in the Himalayan region, following last week’s downpours in Kishtwar, Indian-administered Kashmir, that left 60 people dead and 200 others missing.
In nearby Jammu, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) recorded 368 millimeters (14.5 inches) of rain on Tuesday alone. The agency issued fresh warnings of thunderstorms and gusty winds for Ladakh, and forecast heavy rainfall in Himachal Pradesh as well as the federal territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
The deluge has forced widespread shutdowns, with schools closed across Jammu, Himachal Pradesh, and Punjab. Omar Abdullah, the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, said telecommunications services were “almost nonexistent,” complicating relief operations as flooding rivers surged across the region. Officials reported that overflowing waters in the Tawi, Chenab, Jhelum, and Basantar rivers inundated low-lying districts, leaving at least three dead in Doda district of Jammu.
“The immediate priority is restoration of electricity, water supply, and mobile services, for which the authorities have been working continuously overnight,” Jitendra Singh, India’s minister for science and technology, said in a post on X. Singh added that the Madhopur bridge had suffered “significant damage,” with dramatic television footage showing vehicles plunging into the water as part of the bridge collapsed. Several highways linking Jammu to other regions were also washed out, further isolating communities.
The flooding crisis comes as neighboring Pakistan grapples with its own monsoon devastation. Authorities there said Tuesday that Punjab province faces “very high to exceptionally high” flood danger following days of torrential rain compounded by India’s release of water from two dams. Pakistani officials said more than 150,000 people have been displaced in the province, including 35,000 who evacuated their homes voluntarily after warnings issued earlier this month.
Northern India’s Himalayan states are prone to deadly flooding and landslides during the monsoon season, with experts warning that climate change is intensifying rainfall patterns and making disasters more frequent and severe.
