• Thursday, March 28, 2024

HEADLINE STORY

Heavy rain in India, Nepal kills almost 200, rescue work on

Uttarakhand state officials inspect a road in the state which was closed due to landslide following heavy rainfall in Chamoli district on Wednesday, October 20, 2021. (ANI Photo)

By: Shubham Ghosh

NEARLY 200 people have perished in floods and landslides that have hit India and Nepal over the past few days, officials said on Thursday (21) with families getting buried in their homes and two young girls swept away. Forecasters have warned of more heavy rain.

AFP cited experts as saying that an increasingly unpredictable and extreme weather caused by climate change and worsened by deforestation, building of dams and excessive development have resulted in the disaster.

ALSO READ: In flooded Kerala, couple arrive for marriage in cooking pot

India’s landlocked northern neighbour Nepal saw a sharp rise in casualties, with official sources saying 88 people have died, including a family of six which included three children. Their house was destroyed by a sudden avalanche of mud, the report added.

Kerala: Met office sounds orange alert for many districts

“All District Disaster Management Committees have been actively working for the rescue and relief operations. Under the committee, Nepal Police, Armed Force Police, Nepal Army and other agencies have been mobilised,” Dijan Bhattarai, an emergencies official from Nepal said.

55 confirmed dead in Uttarakhand

In India’s Himalayan state of Uttarakhand which borders Nepal, 55 people were confirmed to have died, five of whom belonged to a single family. Their house was also obliterated by a massive landslide.

The infrastructure in the area was also hit as bridges and roads were damaged and many towns were cut off. The Indian Army was called in to restore contact and rescue thousands of people who have been left stranded.

Uttarakhand’s state disaster secretary S Murugeshan said the death toll may rise further with a number of people still missing, including 20 tourists, who went trekking on a glacier.

Heavy rain in India, Nepal kills almost 200, rescue work on
Chief minister of the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand Pushkar Singh Dhami conducts an aerial inspection of the disaster-prone areas of the state. (ANI Photo)

Indian home minister Amit Shah conducted aerial surveys of the flood-affected areas of Uttarakhand on Thursday (21). He was accompanied by the state’s chief minister, Pushkar Singh Dhami, and governor lieutenant general Gurmit Singh (retired).

Rain causes loss of lives in West Bengal, Sikkim

In the eastern Indian state of West Bengal also, loss of lives was reported in the northern parts that have been lashed by heavy rain. Loss of life was also reported from Sikkim, the northern neighbour of Bengal and also a Himalayan state.

“Mud, rocks and water tumbling down the hills of Darjeeling damaged nearly 400 houses and several thousand people were evacuated away from the swollen rivers on the foothills,” Bengal’s disaster management minister Javed Amhed Khan told AFP.

“Several hundred tourists are stranded in the hill resort of Darjeeling… Landslides blocked highways and roads in the region,” he added.

The meteorological department warned that extremely heavy rainfall would continue in northern districts of Bengal, including Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Alipurduar.
Natural disaster also hit the southern Indian state of Kerala where 42 people died last week and the weather department issued warnings of heavy rain in at least three districts after a short respite.

In 2018, Kerala experienced a devastating flooding in which almost 500 people lost their lives. Scientists have pointed out the Arabian Sea adjoining the state is warming, as a result of which it is becoming more prone to cyclones.

Related Stories

Loading