Rain ravages north India, toll rises to 41

JAMMU/SHIMLA/NEW DELHI: More rain lashed northern India on Wednesday and triggered more flash floods that swept through the hills and mountains, with the toll from the record-breaking spell of extreme weather in Jammu surging to 41 as rapid currents wrecked buildings, roads, bridges and telephone towers.

- HT Correspondents

Dozens of people were stranded and many more missing as surging rivers spilled over their banks and inundated major cities, including Srinagar, with teams from the army, central agencies and state bodies expanding efforts to rescue people trapped across Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Punjab.

Jammu recorded 380mm of rainfall in 24 hours ending 8.30 am on Wednesday, the most ever recorded in a day since the India Meteorological Department (IMD) began logging data in 1910. Jammu got its first observatory in 1910 and the highest record for a 24-hour period was 272.6 mm experienced on August 9, 1973. Earlier, the city had recorded the highest 24-hour rainfall of 228.6 mm nearly a century ago on August 5, 1926 Rains subsided in Jammu by Wednesday evening, even as the weather agency warned that other regions in northwest India would get showers for the rest of the week. Weather models suggest that heavy rain may continue well into September.

The deaths included 34 people who were buried under a landslide along the route to the Vaishno Devi shrine a day ago and a Border Security Force (BSF) jawan swept away while patrolling along the International Border in Akhmoor.

Jammu & Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah travelled to Jammu from Srinagar to review the situation and oversee relief operations.

Waters in the swollen rivers across Jammu began receding on Wednesday morning, but the Jhelum breached the flood alert mark in Anantnag and Srinagar, as waters gushed into residential and commercial areas.