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NBC News
a day ago
- Climate
- NBC News
Torrential rains trigger flash floods in Kashmir, killing at least 56 and leaving scores missing
SRINAGAR, India — Flash floods caused by torrential rains in a remote village in India-controlled Kashmir have left at least 56 people dead and scores missing, authorities said Thursday, as rescue teams scouring the devastated Himalayan village brought at least 300 people to safety. Following a cloudburst in the region's Chositi village, which triggered floods and landslides, disaster management official Mohammed Irshad estimated that at least 80 people were still missing as of late Thursday, with many believed to have been washed away. Irshad said that the count of missing people could increase as authorities continue to tally the figures. Officials halted rescue operations for the night, he said. Weather officials forecast more heavy rains and floods in the area. India's deputy minister for science and technology, Jitendra Singh, warned that the disaster 'could result in substantial' loss of life. Susheel Kumar Sharma, a local official, said that at least 50 seriously injured people were being treated in local hospitals. Many were rescued from a stream filled with mud and debris. Chositi is a remote Himalayan village in Kashmir's Kishtwar district and is the last village accessible to motor vehicles on the route of an ongoing annual Hindu pilgrimage to a mountainous shrine at an altitude of 9,500 feet and about a 5-mile trek from the village. Multiple pilgrims were also feared to be affected by the disaster. Officials said the pilgrimage had been suspended and that more rescue teams were on the way to the area to strengthen rescue and relief operations. The pilgrimage began on July 25 and was scheduled to end on Sept. 5. The first responders to the disaster were villagers and local officials who were later joined by police and disaster management officials, as well as personnel from India's military and paramilitary forces, Sharma said. Abdul Majeed Bichoo, a local resident and social activist from a neighboring village, said that he witnessed the bodies of eight people being pulled out from under the mud. Three horses that were completely buried alongside them under debris were 'miraculously recovered alive,' he said. The 75-year-old Bichoo said Chositi village had become a 'sight of complete devastation from all sides' following the disaster. 'It was heartbreaking and an unbearable sight. I have not seen this kind of destruction of life and property in my life,' he said. The devastating floods swept away the main community kitchen set up for the pilgrims as well as dozens of vehicles and motorbikes, officials said. They added that more than 200 pilgrims were in the kitchen when the tragedy struck. The flash floods also damaged and washed away many homes, clustered together in the foothills. Photos and videos circulating on social media showed extensive damage caused in the village with multiple vehicles and homes affected. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that 'the situation is being monitored closely' and offered his prayers to 'all those affected by the cloudburst and flooding.' 'Rescue and relief operations are underway. Every possible assistance will be provided to those in need,' he said in a social media post. 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 is home to multiple hydroelectric power projects, which experts have long warned pose a threat to the region's fragile ecosystem.
NZ Herald
a day ago
- Climate
- NZ Herald
Indian floods: 60 dead, dozens missing after Kashmir cloudburst
The army's White Knight Corps said its troops, 'braving the harsh weather and rugged terrain, are engaged in evacuation of injured'. Emergency kit including ropes and digging tools were being brought to the disaster site, with the army supporting other rescue teams. One survivor told the Press Trust of India news agency that he had heard a 'big blast' when the wall of water hit the settlement. 'We thought it was an earthquake,' said the shocked witness, who did not give his name. Mohammad Irshad, a top disaster management official, told AFP on Friday that '60 people are recorded dead', with 80 people unaccounted for. 'The search for the missing has intensified', Irshad told AFP. Around 50 severely injured people have been taken to hospitals. Floods and landslides are common during the June-September monsoon season, but experts say climate change, coupled with poorly planned development, is increasing their frequency, severity and impact. Floods on August 5 overwhelmed the Himalayan town of Dharali in India's Uttarakhand state and buried it in mud. The likely death toll from that disaster is more than 70 but has yet to be confirmed. The UN's World Meteorological Organisation said last year that increasingly intense floods and droughts are a 'distress signal' of what is to come as climate change makes the planet's water cycle ever more unpredictable. Roads had already been damaged by days of heavy storms. The area lies more than 200km by road from the region's main city, Srinagar. Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the spate of disasters in his Independence Day speech in New Delhi on Friday. 'In the past few days, we have been facing natural disasters, landslides, cloudbursts, and many other calamities', Modi said in his public address. 'Our sympathies are with the affected people. State governments and the central government are working together with full strength.' -Agence France-Presse
Yomiuri Shimbun
2 days ago
- Climate
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Torrential Rains Trigger Flash Floods in Kashmir, Killing at Least 56 and Leaving Scores Missing
SRINAGAR, India (AP) — Flash floods caused by torrential rains in a remote village in India-controlled Kashmir have left at least 56 people dead and scores missing, authorities said Thursday, as rescue teams scouring the devastated Himalayan village brought at least 300 people to safety. Following a cloudburst in the region's Chositi village, which triggered floods and landslides, disaster management official Mohammed Irshad estimated that at least 80 people were still missing until late Thursday, with many believed to have been washed away. Irshad said that the count of missing people could increase as authorities continue to tally the figures. Officials halted rescue operations for the night, he said. Weather officials forecast more heavy rains and floods in the area. India's deputy minister for science and technology, Jitendra Singh, warned that the disaster 'could result in substantial' loss of life. Susheel Kumar Sharma, a local official, said that at least 50 seriously injured people are being treated in local hospitals. Many were rescued from a stream filled with mud and debris. Chositi is a remote Himalayan village in Kashmir's Kishtwar district and is 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. Multiple pilgrims were also feared to be affected by the disaster. Officials said that the pilgrimage had been suspended and more rescue teams were on the way to the area to strengthen rescue and relief operations. The pilgrimage began on July 25 and was scheduled to end on Sept. 5. The first responders to the disaster were villagers and local officials who were later joined by police and disaster management officials, as well as personnel from India's military and paramilitary forces, Sharma said. Abdul Majeed Bichoo, a local resident and a social activist from a neighboring village, said that he witnessed the bodies of eight people being pulled out from under the mud. Three horses, which were also completely buried alongside them under debris, were 'miraculously recovered alive,' he said. The 75-year-old Bichoo said Chositi village had become a 'sight of complete devastation from all sides' following the disaster. 'It was heartbreaking and an unbearable sight. I have not seen this kind of destruction of life and property in my life,' he said. The devastating floods swept away the main community kitchen set up for the pilgrims as well as dozens of vehicles and motorbikes, officials said. They added that more than 200 pilgrims were in the kitchen when the tragedy struck. The flash floods also damaged and washed away many homes, clustered together in the foothills. Photos and videos circulating on social media showed extensive damage caused in the village with multiple vehicles and homes damaged. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that 'the situation is being monitored closely' and offered his prayers to 'all those affected by the cloudburst and flooding.' 'Rescue and relief operations are underway. Every possible assistance will be provided to those in need,' he said in a social media post. 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 is home to multiple hydroelectric power projects, which experts have long warned pose a threat to the region's fragile ecosystem.
Time of India
4 days ago
- General
- Time of India
From raising orphaned elephants calves to rescuing tigers, Dudhwa mahout wins Gaj Gaurav award for 3 decades of service
1 2 Pilibhit: The first sound in the elephant camp is not the elephants. It's the scrape of Irshad Ali's old, mud-soaked shoes on packed earth as he moves from one tethered giant to another, checking ropes and brushing dust from thick hides. The air smells faintly of cut grass and boiled rice, and somewhere behind him, a calf trumpets — short, high, impatient. This is his every morning at the South Sonaripur elephant camp in the Dudhwa tiger reserve. On Tuesday, Irshad, 50, walked on a very different turf in cleaner footwear — a polished stage in Coimbatore, hundreds of kilometres from the forests that have been his home and workplace for more than three decades — as union environment, forest and climate change minister Bhupendra Yadav handed him the Gaj Gaurav award on World Elephant Day, something no one from DTR had received before. The only recipient from UP, Irshad is among seven individuals from Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Tamil Nadu to be conferred this honour. The citation named his thirty years of service: rescuing and rearing two orphaned elephant calves, training elephants for tiger rescues, and leading rhino headcounts. "I have worked with elephants all my life," Ali said afterwards, "but I never imagined standing before the country to be honoured for it." by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like NRIs Living In Ukraine Are Eligible For INR 2 Lakh Monthly Pension. Invest 18K/Month Get Offer Undo His voice carried no ceremony; he spoke as if describing another day's work. Ali was 11 when he first began caring for elephants. In 1986, his father, Mukhtyar Ali, also a mahout at DTR, died of respiratory illness. That same year, two infant female calves arrived after being accidentally separated from their mothers. "I saw the same emptiness in their eyes that I felt in mine," he said. He began to feed them with whatever was at hand, sitting by their enclosure until they slept. Irshad's formal schooling ended after class V, and he learnt the craft under his father's elder brother, Abid Ali, a retired mahout from Nainital forest division. Abid taught him the slow language of elephant handling — the pressure of a knee behind an ear, the slight lean of the body that signals a turn, the importance of never rushing an animal's decision. By the time Abid died in 2002, Irshad had been a forest watcher and was already posted as a mahout in the Palia-based elephant camp, starting on Feb 9, 1994. The calves that defined his recent years arrived more than three decades after those first two. On Oct 9, 2018, DTR received a three-month-old from Bijnor forest division. In 2023, another arrived from Najibabad at just 20 days old. He named them Durga and Gauri, feeding them cow's milk from bottles and sleeping close enough to hear their restless shifts at night. During his visit to Salukapur elephant camp at Dudhwa tiger reserve on April 27 this year, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath renamed Gauri as Bhawani. She was not accepted by the adult females; Ali began placing her near Durga during feeding, letting familiarity grow gradually. In time, Durga adopted her. "They are inseparable now," he said, watching them move in step through the camp. His work has never been limited to raising calves. The tiger rescue in 2012 took him far from the quiet of Dudhwa to a mango farm on the outskirts of Lucknow, where a stray big cat had been hiding for hours, unsettling villagers and drawing a tense crowd. Riding a trained camp elephant, Ali threaded through narrow orchard lanes, keeping the animal steady despite the tiger's growls from deep in the undergrowth. "You have to watch both — the tiger in front and the elephant under you — because one sudden move from either can turn the situation dangerous," he said. It took hours of careful positioning before the tranquiliser team got a clear shot, allowing the tiger to be moved without injury. This year, his skills were called on for a quieter but equally demanding task — identifying rhinos for release into free-ranging conditions in DTR. Over several days, he accompanied monitoring teams into tall grasslands, tracking individuals and noting their behaviour, age, and health. His knowledge of the terrain and the animals' habits helped narrow the selection to four, whose release is now part of the reserve's long-term conservation plan. "You cannot get this close to a rhino unless you have patience — and a good elephant," he said. Ali's own formal education ended early, but he has ensured his two sons had opportunities he did not. "My elder son, Arbaz Ali, 24, is a software engineer with a Canadian company in Bangalore. My younger son, Sabir Ali, is preparing for civil services exams in Delhi after completing his BCom honours," he said. Arbaz, who joined him in Coimbatore, added: "My father took loans and spent his savings for our education. Seeing him receive this award is the happiest moment of my life. " DTR deputy director Jagdish R credited Ali's "family-like care for animals" with setting a benchmark in the reserve. Field director H Rajamohan called the award "a source of pride that will push others to pursue excellence in their work." The ceremony is over in Coimbatore, and the framed certificate will travel back with Irshad Ali to hang on a wall in his quarters at the camp. In Dudhwa, his work will be unchanged. At first light, the lines of elephants will wait for the familiar sound of his steps and his low, steady voice. Calves Durga and Bhawani will stand close, nudging each other with their trunks, until the man who raised them returns to scratch the spot behind Durga's ear that makes her close her eyes. "This," he said, "is where I belong." Stay updated with the latest local news from your city on Times of India (TOI). Check upcoming bank holidays , public holidays , and current gold rates and silver prices in your area.
Time of India
08-08-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Actor Irshad Ali stands with Shwetha Menon; shares a sarcastic post - 'Should I go into hiding?'
(Picture Courtesy: Facebook) Malayalam actor Irshad Ali has voiced his support for Shwetha Menon , who is currently embroiled in a legal controversy over alleged obscene scenes in her past films and advertisements. Taking to Facebook, Irshad used sarcasm to highlight what he sees as the absurdity of the situation. Sharing the poster of the film 'Paadam Onnu: Oru Vilapam', where he starred opposite Meera Jasmine, he wrote, 'As far as I know, Meera Jasmine is currently in America. Even after deploying Sethurama Iyer, we still haven't been able to find out if any lawyer was contacted! Should I apply for anticipatory bail? Or should I go into hiding?' Irshad also added the hashtags like #StandWithShwethaMenon, #ProtectArtistsRights, #ArtisticFreedom, and #Censorship. Netizens react Irshad's post was soon flooded with hilarious comments. One comment read, "ഇങ്ങള് ഞങ്ങടെ നാട്ടുകാരനേ അല്ല (You are not from our village at all.)" Another comment read, "ഇങ്ങളും എടുത്തു വെച്ചോ ഒരു ജാമ്യാപേക്ഷ" (Keep a bail application read). Malayalam film industry unites to condemn FIR against Shwetha Menon over condom ad Many within the Malayalam film fraternity have raised their voices against the issue, standing strong with Shwetha Menon. Actress Seema G Nair shared a Facebook post that read, "Fourteen years ago, we acted together in the film Kayam. Spent several days together then. The bond of love that began that day… This wasn't a relationship built on regular phone calls or meetings. From the very first meeting till now, she has always treated me the same—with consistency and warmth. And now look at the disgusting, filthy way an FIR has been filed against her. It claims that the institutions she runs are making videos that mislead children. Such shocking allegations… Whether it's Kalimannu, Paleri Manikyam, Kayam, or even Kamasutra—all these were released legally, with certification from the Censor Board." High Court offers relief to Shwetha Menon The controversy stems from an FIR filed by Ernakulam Central Police following a CJM court directive. The complaint alleged that Shwetha had been involved in creating or transmitting obscene content for financial gain. As reported by Bar and Bench website, the Kerala High Court has stepped in and offered temporary relief. Justice V G Arun granted an interim stay on the proceedings after the actress filed a petition to quash the FIR.
