In dire need: Volunteers rescuing people from a flooded locality after heavy monsoon rains, in Vijayawada. — AFP
Heavy monsoon rains and floods have killed at least 33 people in southern India and five children in Pakistan over the past two days, authorities said.
In India’s Andhra Pradesh and Telangana states, houses collapsed and were swept away by torrential downpours while floods disrupted road and rail traffic, officials said yesterday.
The weather service issued a red alert for 11 districts, predicting more rains in the region, Telangana’s top bureaucrat, Shanta Kumari, said.
More than 4,000 people have been moved to 110 government-run relief camps in Telangana since Monday, according to the state’s top elected official, A. Revanth Reddy.
Overflowing lakes, tanks and streams have cut off some villages in Mahabubnagar and Nalgonda districts.
Vijayawada, the commercial capital of Andhra Pradesh, is experiencing the worst flooding in two decades with the Budameru River flooding 40% of the city and stranding nearly 275,000 people in more than a dozen residential area.
Disaster relief teams are struggling to transport stranded families to safer areas, said Andhra Pradesh’s top elected official, N. Chandrababu Naidu.
Since June, at least 170 people have died across India’s six northeastern states due to floods and mudslides brought on by the rains, according to official figures.
In neighbouring Pakistan, flash floods triggered by heavy monsoon rains killed five children on Monday in southwestern Balochistan province, bringing the country’s overall death toll from rain-related incidents to at least 300 since July 1.
The five deaths were reported in the Zhob and Khuzdar districts, according to a statement by the disaster management authority. In Balochistan alone, floods have killed 32 people, including 18 children and 12 women over the past two months.
The deluges have also inundated dozens of villages and blocked highways in parts of Balochistan, and damaged nearly 20,000 homes across the country, mostly in Balochistan.
Disasters caused by landslides and floods are common in both India and Pakistan during the June-September monsoon season. Scientists and weather forecasters have blamed climate change for heavier rains in recent years.
In 2022, climate-induced downpours inundated one-third of Pakistan, killing 1,739 people and causing US$30bil in damage. — AP
