SRINAGAR, India (Reuters) -At least 17 people were feared dead and more missing following sudden, heavy rain in Indian Kashmir, an official said on Thursday.
The disaster 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, said the official, 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. Scores of people as of now are missing,” the official said.
“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 am 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.
(Reporting by Fayaz Bukhari, writing by Shilpa Jamkhandikar; Editing by YP Rajesh, Aidan Lewis)
