Army and air force troops are working to rescue thousands of people stranded across Indian-administered Kashmir, according to Indian officials, while across the border the Pakistani army says it is helping administration officials move people to safer places.
Six days of rains in Indian-administered Kashmir have caused the area’s worst flooding in more than five decades, killing more than 120 people, submerging hundreds of villages and setting off landslides, Indian officials said on Monday.
Landslides and flash floods in Kashmir – a Himalayan region divided between India and Pakistan – and adjoining parts of northern and eastern Pakistan have left more than 320 people dead so far.
The Pakistani toll has crossed the 205 mark, according to a senior government official, and thousands of homes have collapsed.
Speaking in the Pakistani capital Islamabad on Monday, Ahmad Kamal, the National Disaster Management Authority spokesman, said at least 383 people had also been injured over the past six days.
He said flash floods and landslides had killed 131 people in Punjab and 74 others in Pakistani-administered Kashmir and Gilgit.
Pakistani troops were busy helping civilian authorities in rescue operations and in reaching aid to stranded villagers, the Pakistani army said in a statement.
Army and the civilian authorities have so far evacuated nearly 9,000 people to safer places from nearly 530 villagers that were inundated by flood waters, Kamal said.
He said authorities were gearing up to deal with the worsening of the situation as the waters of the Chenab and Indus Rivers was rising.
Pakistani TV channels showed pictures of flooding from different cities and villagers, with the water raging through the streets and roads, causing heavy losses.
