Heavy rains have caused flooding in India’s capital region, closing schools and offices and killing at least five people.
Yesterday, more than 100 mm of rain was recorded in one hour in Delhi, leading the Meteorological Department to issue a warning and the government to announce school closures.
Residents were advised to stay indoors as flooding cut off access to some areas.
A woman and her son drowned in a drain in East Delhi’s Mayur Vihar early on Wednesday. Police said the boy, named Priyanshu, slipped and fell into an open drain which was not visible due to heavy flooding. The mother, identified as Tanuja, also fell into the drain while trying to rescue her son.
In the neighbouring satellite city of Gurugram, at least three people were electrocuted by live electric wires that were submerged in flooded areas.
Air traffic was also hit, with at least 10 flights diverted from the capital, which covers Delhi and several surrounding districts in the states of Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, according to CNN-IBN.
Footage from the ANI news agency showed flooding in the north of the city, where three students drowned in a flooded basement last week.
Heavy rains have lashed parts of northern India, killing at least 11 people and leaving more than 250 people missing, including those stranded on a popular pilgrimage route, after heavy rains lashed the Himalayan mountains.
The India Meteorological Department recorded 183 mm (7 inches) of rain in the popular tourist destination of Dharamsala in Himachal Pradesh state in the past 24 hours.
Heavy rains have hit the state capital Shimla and surrounding areas, leaving more than 50 people missing, Chief Minister Sukhbinder Singh Sukh said in a post on X, adding that rescue operations were ongoing.
State Revenue Minister Jagat Singh Negi told news agency ANI that a bunker at a power project was breached, cutting off communications in the area and killing two people.
Indian Express Torrential rains have killed four people in Uttarakhand state and left 200 pilgrims stranded after parts of a pilgrimage route were washed away by the rain, the paper reported.
Over the past few years, torrential rains and stalled construction work have led to more frequent deadly flash floods and landslides in mountainous areas of India and neighbouring Pakistan and Nepal, which have been blamed on climate change.
In the south, hopes of finding survivors were beginning to fade as hundreds of rescuers waded through muddy water and rocks to pull bodies from rubble in the hills of Kerala state, a day after monsoon landslides killed 167 people.
As the day went on, the rain intensified and local rivers rose, hampering rescue efforts and washing away a makeshift bridge connecting the hardest-hit areas of Mundakkai.
The meteorological department has predicted further heavy rainfall over the next 24 hours, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said, urging people to remain “highly vigilant”.
Heavy rains in Kerala state, one of India’s most popular tourist destinations, triggered a landslide in the Wayanad district early Tuesday, sending mud, water and rocks tumbling downhill, burying or swept away people as they slept. Experts said heavy rains in the area over the past two weeks had softened the soil.
Extremely heavy rains on Monday subsequently triggered the landslides. About 1,600 people were rescued from villages and tea and cardamom plantations in the hills, authorities said.
Further reports from the institution
