Several days of torrential rain kill around 60 people

2023-08-15 02:53:46

The current monsoon in India is particularly deadly. About 60 people have died in the country during massive floods and devastating landslides, authorities announced on Monday.

Several days of torrential rain destroyed bridges and buildings, washed away vehicles in the northern states of Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh. In the latter, schools were closed.

Temple collapse kills nine

In Himachal Pradesh, the most affected by the weather, at least 50 people have died in the past 24 hours, said the Prime Minister of this state, Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu. Nine of them lost their lives in the collapse of a Hindu temple in Shimla, the local capital.

“Never before have there been such heavy rains and more than 50 deaths in the state in a 24-hour period – and that toll may rise further as there are still around 20 people under the rubble,” said late in the day. the Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu evening to the media. “The local administration is trying to (…) rescue people who could still be trapped,” he previously explained. The President of India, Droupadi Murmu, for her part said she was “hurt by the loss of human life in the accidents linked to the heavy rains”.

In the most affected areas, major roads and power lines were heavily damaged, blocking thousands of people. The railway network also suffered heavy damage.

Already deadly rains in July

In the state of Uttarakhand, rescue teams tried to free people buried by landslides. Near the banks of the Ganges, in the tourist town of Rishikesh, five people found themselves trapped. Among them, only a young girl was saved, said the district police commissioner, adding that the rest of her family was still trapped under the rubble. In total, at least eight people have been killed since Friday due to bad weather in this state, according to the authorities.

During the monsoon, floods and landslides are frequent and cause considerable damage, but their number is increasing with climate change, experts say. In July, several days of monsoon rains killed at least 90 people in India, while the Yamuna, a river that crosses the capital New Delhi, experienced its highest levels since 1978.