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The Independent
4 hours ago
- The Independent
Dramatic rescue as woman pulled from car in Tennessee floodwaters
A man heroically rescued a woman trapped inside a submerged car during the Chattanooga floods by smashing the window with a rock. Heavy rain and flash floods battered southern Tennessee, leading to a state of emergency being declared around Chattanooga. Rescue workers spent hours assisting residents fleeing flooded homes and vehicles in the affected region. A mother, father, and child died when an uprooted tree fell on their car during the severe weather. Watch the video in full above.
Sky News
9 hours ago
- Sky News
At least 56 dead and dozens missing after flash flooding in Indian Himalayas
At least 56 people have been killed after flash flooding hit a remote, mountainous village in Indian-controlled Kashmir. Estimates suggest at least 80 people are still missing in the devastated Himalayan village of Chasoti, in the Jammu and Kashmir region, according to local officials. Rescue teams have brought 300 people to safety, they added. Chasoti, around 85 miles (136km) northeast of Jammu, is the last village accessible to vehicles on the route of an annual Hindu pilgrimage to a mountainous shrine, the Machail Mata temple. The devastating floods swept away the main community kitchen, where more than 200 pilgrims were gathered, as well as dozens of vehicles and motorbikes, officials said. Abdul Majeed Bichoo, a local resident from a neighbouring village, said he witnessed the bodies of eight people being pulled out from under the mud. The 75-year-old said Chasoti had become a "sight of complete devastation from all sides". "It was heartbreaking and an unbearable sight," he continued. "I have not seen this kind of destruction of life and property in my life." India's deputy minister for science and technology, Jitendra Singh, said the floods were triggered by torrential rains. Sudden, intense downpours over small areas - known as cloudbursts - are increasingly common in India's Himalayan regions, which are prone to flash floods and landslides. Last week, floodwater crashed through an entire Himalayan village in India's Uttarakhand state. 1:24 Television footage showed pilgrims in Chasoti crying in fear as water flooded the village. At least 50 of the rescued people were badly injured and were being treated in local hospitals, local official Susheel Kumar Sharma said. Officials said the Hindu pilgrimage, which began in July and was scheduled to end on 5 September, has been suspended. More rescue teams were on the way to the area, they added. Ramesh Kumar, the divisional commissioner of Kishtwar district, told news agency ANI that local police and disaster response officials had reached the scene. "Army, air force teams have also been activated. Search and rescue operations are underway," Mr Kumar said. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said "the situation is being monitored closely" and offered his prayers to "all those affected by the cloudburst and flooding." Cloudbursts can cause intense flooding and landslides, and have increased in recent years, partly due to climate change. Damage from the storms has also been exacerbated by unplanned development in mountain regions.
The Independent
12 hours ago
- The Independent
Rescuers search for missing flash flood victims in remote Kashmir village
Rescuers searched for missing people in a remote village in India-controlled Kashmir on Friday after flash floods caused by torrential rains a day earlier left at least 60 people dead, officials said. Teams of disaster management officials, police and soldiers helped by local villagers scoured the devastated Himalayan village of Chositi on Friday. Officials halted rescue operations overnight but rescued at least 300 people Thursday after a powerful cloudburst triggered floods and landslides. Officials said many missing people were believed to have been washed away. More rescue teams were headed to the area to strengthen relief operations. At least 50 seriously injured people were treated in local hospitals, many of them rescued from a stream filled with mud and debris. Disaster management official Mohammed Irshad said the number of missing people could increase. Weather officials forecast more heavy rains and floods in the area. Chositi is a remote Himalayan village in Kashmir's Kishtwar district and the last village accessible to motor vehicles on the route of an ongoing annual Hindu pilgrimage to a mountainous shrine at an altitude of 3,000 meters (9,500 feet) and about an 8-kilometer (5-mile) trek from the village. Officials said the pilgrimage, which began July 25 and was scheduled to end on Sept. 5, was suspended. The devastating floods swept away the main community kitchen set up for the pilgrims, as well as dozens of vehicles and motorbikes. More than 200 pilgrims were in the kitchen at the time of the flood, which also damaged or washed away many of the homes clustered together in the foothills, officials said. Photos and videos on social media show extensive damage with household goods strewn next to damaged vehicles and homes in the village. Authorities made makeshift bridges Friday to help stranded pilgrims cross a muddy water channel. Sudden, intense downpours over small areas known as cloudbursts are increasingly common in India's Himalayan regions, which are prone to flash floods and landslides. Cloudbursts have the potential to wreak havoc by causing intense flooding and landslides, impacting thousands of people in the mountainous regions. Experts say cloudbursts have increased in recent years partly because of climate change, while damage from the storms also has increased because of unplanned development in mountain regions. Kishtwar district is home to multiple hydroelectric power projects, which experts have long warned pose a threat to the region's fragile ecosystem.
