Latest news with #Chasoti
Sky News
2 days ago
- Climate
- Sky News
More than 280 dead after flash floods hit India and Pakistan
Flash flooding has killed more than 280 people in India and Pakistan over the last 24 hours, according to local officials. Dozens more are missing after torrential rains struck two mountainous districts in the neighbouring countries. Some 1,600 people have been brought to safety. In India -controlled Kashmir, at least 60 people were killed in the remote Himalayan village of Chasoti in the Jammu and Kashmir region on Thursday. 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. More than 80 people have been reported missing, and officials believe many of those were washed away in the floods. Forecasters say more heavy rains and floods could hit the area. Officials halted rescue operations overnight but rescued at least 300 people on Thursday. Meanwhile, in Pakistan, at least 243 people have died in flash floods, including 157 people in Buner district in the northwestern district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Authorities there have declared a state of emergency. Rescuers evacuated 1,300 tourists from the mountainous Mansehra district who were trapped by flash flooding and landslides in the Siran Valley on Thursday, according to Bilal Faizi, a provincial emergency service spokesman. A helicopter carrying relief supplies to the flood-hit northwestern region of Bajaur crashed on Friday due to bad weather, killing all five people on board, including two pilots, a government statement said. Pakistan's disaster management agency has issued fresh alerts for glacial lake outburst flooding in the north, warning people to avoid affected areas. The Gilgit-Baltistan region has been hit by multiple floods since July, triggering landslides along the Karakoram Highway, a key trade and travel route linking Pakistan and China.
Sky News
2 days ago
- Climate
- 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.
Asharq Al-Awsat
2 days ago
- Climate
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Floods and Landslides in Indian Kashmir Kill 60, over 100 Missing
At least 60 people have died and more than 100 are missing, a day after sudden, heavy rain caused floods and landslides in Indian Kashmir, authorities and local media said on Friday, the second such disaster in the Himalayas in a little over a week. Gushing mudslides and floodwaters inundated the village of Chasoti in Indian Kashmir on Thursday, washing away pilgrims who had gathered for lunch before trekking up the hill for a popular pilgrimage site. "We heard a huge sound and it was followed by a flash flood and slush. People were shouting, and some of them fell in the Chenab River. Others were buried under the debris," said Rakesh Sharma, a pilgrim who was injured. Bags, clothes and other belongings, caked in mud, lay scattered amid broken electric poles and mud on Friday, as rescue workers used shovels, ropes and crossed makeshift bridges in an attempt to extricate people out of the debris. "We were told that another 100-150 people might be buried under the debris," one rescue worker told news agency ANI. The Machail Yatra is a popular pilgrimage to the high altitude Himalayan shrine of Machail Mata and pilgrims trek to the temple from Chasoti, where the road for vehicles ends. Thursday's incident comes a little over a week after a flood and mudslide engulfed an entire village in the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand. "Nature has been testing us. In the last few days, we have had to deal with landslides, cloudbursts and other natural calamities," Prime Minister Narendra Modi said at the start of a nearly two-hour speech on the country's 79th independence day. A cloudburst, according to the Indian Meteorological Department, is a sudden, intense downpour of over 100 mm (4 inches) of rain in just one hour that can trigger sudden floods, landslides, and devastation, especially in mountainous regions during the monsoon.
Arab News
2 days ago
- Climate
- Arab News
Floods and landslides in Indian Kashmir kill 60, over 100 missing
SRINAGAR: At least 60 people have died and more than 100 are missing, a day after sudden, heavy rain caused floods and landslides in Indian Kashmir, authorities and local media said on Friday, the second such disaster in the Himalayas in a little over a mudslides and floodwaters inundated the village of Chasoti in Indian Kashmir on Thursday, washing away pilgrims who had gathered for lunch before trekking up the hill for a popular pilgrimage site.'We heard a huge sound and it was followed by a flash flood and slush. People were shouting, and some of them fell in the Chenab River. Others were buried under the debris,' said Rakesh Sharma, a pilgrim who was clothes and other belongings, caked in mud, lay scattered amid broken electric poles and mud on Friday, as rescue workers used shovels, ropes and crossed makeshift bridges in an attempt to extricate people out of the debris.'We were told that another 100-150 people might be buried under the debris,' one rescue worker told news agency Machail Yatra is a popular pilgrimage to the high altitude Himalayan shrine of Machail Mata, one of the manifestations of Goddess Durga, and pilgrims trek to the temple from Chasoti, where the road for vehicles incident comes a little over a week after a flood and mudslide engulfed an entire village in the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand.'Nature has been testing us. In the last few days, we have had to deal with landslides, cloudbursts and other natural calamities,' Prime Minister Narendra Modi said at the start of a nearly two-hour speech on the country's 79th independence day.A cloudburst, according to the Indian Meteorological Department, is a sudden, intense downpour of over 100mm (4 inches) of rain in just one hour that can trigger sudden floods, landslides, and devastation, especially in mountainous regions during the monsoon.
CNN
2 days ago
- Climate
- CNN
Sudden, heavy rain in Indian Kashmir leaves 46 dead, more than 200 missing
Asia StormsFacebookTweetLink Follow At least 46 people died and more than 200 were missing following sudden, heavy rain in Indian Kashmir, officials said on Thursday, the second such disaster in the Himalayas in a little over a week. The incident occurred in Chasoti town of Kishtwar district, a stopover point on a popular pilgrimage route. It comes a little over a week after a heavy flood and mudslide engulfed an entire village in the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand. The flood washed away a community kitchen and a security post set up in the village, a pit stop along the pilgrimage route to the Machail Mata temple, said one of the officials, who declined to be named because he was not authorised to speak to the media about the incident. 'A large number of pilgrims had gathered for lunch and they were washed away,' the official said. The Machail yatra is a popular pilgrimage to the high altitude Himalayan shrine of Machail Mata, one of the manifestations of Goddess Durga, and pilgrims trek to the temple from Chasoti, where the road for vehicles ends. 'The news is grim and accurate, verified information from the area hit by the cloudburst is slow in arriving,' Omar Abdullah, the chief minister of India's federal territory of Jammu and Kashmir, said in a post on X. Television footage showed pilgrims crying in fear as water flooded the village. The disaster occurred at 11.30 a.m. local time, Ramesh Kumar, the divisional commissioner of Kishtwar district, told news agency ANI, adding 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,' Kumar said. A cloudburst, according to the Indian Meteorological Department, is a sudden, intense downpour of over 100 mm (4 inches) of rain in just one hour that can trigger sudden floods, landslides, and devastation, especially in mountainous regions during the monsoon. The local weather office in Srinagar predicted intense showers for several regions in Kashmir on Thursday, including Kishtwar, asking residents to stay away from loose structures, electric poles and old trees as there was a possibility of mudslides and flash floods.
