THE heaviest monsoon rains to lash India in 25 years have killed more than 1,600 people since June, government data showed on Tuesday (1), as authorities battled floods in two northern states and muddy waters swirled inside a major city.
The monsoon, which typically lasts between June and September, has already delivered 10 per cent more rain than a 50-year average and is expected to withdraw only after early October, more than a month later than usual.
The extended rains have wreaked havoc, with northern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar states the worst hit in the latest spell of intense downpours, killing 144 people since last Friday (27), two officials said.
In Patna, Bihar's riverside capital city that is home to around two million people, residents said they were wading through waist-deep water to buy essential items like food and milk.
Ranjeev Kumar, 65, a resident of Patna's Ashiyana neighbourhood, told Reuters by telephone that the entire area was stranded by the water.
"The government is not doing any rescue and the situation is very serious here," he said.
On Monday (30), relief workers rescued Bihar's Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Modi from his home in Patna. Video footage showed him dressed in shorts and a t-shirt as he was brought out on a raft along with his family members.
Saket Kumar Singh, who lives in the city's Boring Road area, said he was stranded for four days, with about two feet of water inside his house.
"There was no electricity, and despite having money I was helpless," Singh, 45, said.
In neighbouring Uttar Pradesh, India's most populous state, heavy rains have brought down more than 800 homes and swathes of farmland are submerged.
Data released by the federal home ministry shows that 1,673 people have died because of floods and heavy rains this year, as of September 29.
Officials said that many of these fatalities were caused due to wall and building collapses, including in Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra, the western state that has seen 371 flood-related deaths in 2019, the highest in the country.
"The danger of old or weak structures collapsing increases during the heavy rainfall, like what happened this time," Chandrakant Sharma, a flood expert with Uttar Pradesh's disaster relief department, told Reuters.
India's flood prevention and forecasting systems are lacking, other experts say, even as the total flood-prone area in the country has increased in recent decades because of deforestation, degradation of water bodies, and climate change.
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A rescuer assists a resident through heavy mud following flash floods on August 27, 2026 in Trishuli, Nepal. A sudden flood swept through the Bhote Koshi River basin in northern Rasuwa on August 26, damaging settlements, roads and energy infrastructure as rescue teams searched for residents and foreign travellers reported out of contact. Hundreds were reported missing, as the death toll started to climb.Getty Images
Rescue personnel provide medical treatment to a child at an army rescue camp in Trishuli Batar, Nepal, on August 27, 2026. A sudden flood swept through the Bhote Koshi River basin in northern Rasuwa on August 26, damaging settlements, roads and energy infrastructure, as rescue teams searched for residents and foreign travellers reported out of contact. Hundreds were reported missing as the death toll began to climb. Getty Ima
Family members of missing flood victims react at the emergency ward of the Maharajgunj Medical Campus, part of the Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital, on August 28, 2026 in Kathmandu, Nepal. Authorities said the flash floods were triggered after a mass of ice, mud and rock collapsed into a Himalayan river near the Nepal-China border, leaving hundreds dead or missing and causing widespread damage in affected districts. Authorities continued the gruelling search for victims, many buried under metres of mud, as both China and Nepal issued fresh flooding alerts.Getty Images