Residents huddle on rooftops in India, Pakistan floods

NEW DELHI // People were huddled on rooftops on Monday as they tried to escape flood waters which have already killed more than 350 in India and Pakistan and left tens of thousands homeless.

With phone lines down and roads cut off, the exact scale of the disaster in the Kashmir region and Pakistan’s Punjab province was still uncertain but video footage shot from army helicopters showed entire villages completely under water.

As teams of divers worked round the clock in Indian-controlled Kashmir to help bring people to safety, residents could be seen waving from rooftops while vehicles and livestock were washed away by the surging waters.

Disaster officials say at least 350 villages have been submerged on the Indian side of the de-facto border by torrential monsoon rains, making it the deadliest flooding disaster there for half a century.

Thousands of troops, police and other emergency personnel, backed by helicopters and boats, have fanned out across the Kashmir Valley and the rest of the state to deliver blankets, tents and other aid in an attempt to minimise casualties, the Indian officials said.

“The issue remains grim, we have intensified our rescue operations,” OP Singh, director general of the National Disaster Response Force, said.

“In some of the areas the water is so high that we are not being able to reach there unless we are airlifted.

“It’s very difficult to say how many are trapped, how many are stranded in different localities. It can only come out when people are completely rescued.”

There was no fresh rainfall on Monday and forecasters said that only light drizzle was likely in the next few days.

But despite the respite, officials warned that the death toll is bound to rise.

“Unofficially, the casualties are most definitely over 150 right now. This is a flash flood. Thankfully people are not without any help,” an official of the Indian National Disaster Management Authority said.

In Pakistan, officials said the death toll now stood at 205, with the majority of deaths recorded in Punjab province.

Helicopters, troops and other emergency personnel have been deployed in flood-hit areas for rescue and relief operations, according to Pakistan’s National Disaster Management Authority (NMDA).

The death toll in Punjab currently stands at 131, with a further 273 people injured. Some 556 villages have been affected.

* Agence France-Presse