Days of torrential downpours washed away vehicles, demolished buildings and destroyed bridges in the Himalayas.
Floods and landslides are common and cause widespread havoc during India’s treacherous monsoon season, but experts say climate change is increasing their frequency and severity.
At least 52 people have been killed in Himachal Pradesh since Sunday, with thousands more stranded after disruptions to roads, power lines and communication networks.
“The suffering of the affected people cannot be alleviated with money, but the government will provide them with all possible assistance in this hour of distress,” state chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said in a statement on Tuesday. communicated.
Sukhu said earlier that up to 20 other people feared being trapped under rubble after landslides, and called on residents to stay indoors and avoid going near rivers.
Footage from hard-hit areas of Himachal Pradesh showed bodies being pulled from piles of dark earth that had crushed buildings and shattered roofs.
At least 11 people died when a landslide caused the collapse of a popular temple dedicated to the Hindu deity Shiva in the state capital, Shimla.
“Rescue efforts are continuing and we fear that at least 10 more people are still trapped under the rubble,” district disaster management committee chairman Aditya Negi told AFP.
Elsewhere in the state, railroad lines were seen hanging in the air after the ground below washed away.
Sukhu said the disaster was the worst to hit Himachal Pradesh in the past 50 years, adding that state authorities had curtailed Tuesday’s annual Independence Day celebrations, marking the end of the British colonial rule, to focus on rescue efforts.
More than 300 tourists have been rescued from the floods, he added.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, speaking from New Delhi’s Red Fort for his annual Independence Day speech, said recent natural disasters had caused “unimaginable turmoil” for families across the country.
“I express my sympathies to all of them and assure them that the state and central governments will work together,” he told the crowd.
yoga retreat
At least 13 other people have also been killed since Friday in neighboring Uttarakhand state, officials said on Tuesday.
Rescue teams rushed to remove the debris after people feared they would be buried when heavy rain triggered landslides.
Five people were buried when a landslide hit a resort near the popular Rishikesh yoga retreat on the banks of the Ganges.
Nearly 350 roads around Uttarakhand had been closed to traffic, according to state disaster bulletins.
Several riverside towns and villages in both states were at risk of flash flooding due to forecast heavy rains.
The monsoon brings South Asia around 80% of its annual rainfall and is vital to both agriculture and the livelihoods of millions of people. But it also brings destruction every year in the form of landslides and floods.
Days of relentless monsoon rains killed at least 90 people last month, while the capital New Delhi saw the Yamuna River – which winds past the megacity – record its highest levels since 1978.
Forecasters expect heavy rains to continue in the Indian Himalayas until at least Friday.
