Deaths top 440 in India, Pakistan floods

Kashmiris caught in high water cling to a tree Tuesday in Srinagar, India, as monsoon flooding continues to sweep across parts of India and Pakistan. More than 440 people have been killed, and as helicopters and boats raced to rescue the marooned, authorities warned that hundreds of thousands of people should be prepared to •ee their homes.
Kashmiris caught in high water cling to a tree Tuesday in Srinagar, India, as monsoon flooding continues to sweep across parts of India and Pakistan. More than 440 people have been killed, and as helicopters and boats raced to rescue the marooned, authorities warned that hundreds of thousands of people should be prepared to •ee their homes.

JHANG, Pakistan -- Raging monsoon floods sweeping across India and Pakistan have killed more than 440 people, authorities said Tuesday, warning hundreds of thousands more to be prepared to flee their homes as helicopters and boats raced to save marooned victims.

Authorities in Pakistan said the floods, which began Sept. 3, are the worst since flooding killed 1,700 people in 2010. Pakistan's minister for water and power, Khwaja Mohammad Asif, warned parliament that some 700,000 people have been told to leave their homes, which could be inundated in the next four days.

Pakistani and Indian troops have been using boats and helicopters to drop food supplies for stranded families and evacuate victims. The rushing waters have destroyed the homes of thousands of families, and more than 1.5 million people are now affected.

"This is a sad moment for all of us," Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said, addressing flood victims in the country's Hafiz district. "These floods came suddenly and no one knew that such a large flood was coming."

The floods have triggered landslides in Kashmir and caused much devastation in northern and eastern Pakistan. The Kashmir region in the northern Himalayas is divided between India and Pakistan and claimed in full by both.

The rains washed away houses, bridges, communication equipment and crops. Pakistani and Indian troops said Tuesday that they had evacuated more than 60,000 people.

Others have waded through waist-deep water to escape the floods, as women carried household items and children on their shoulders while others dragged their livestock along. On roadsides, families set up makeshift camps. Hundreds of others remained stranded on rooftops, waving for help to every passing helicopter.

On a road near the village of Jamia Abad in the eastern Pakistani district of Jhang, Naseem Akhtar, 41, said she had gone from one government office to another, trying to get someone to help her husband and other family members who had stayed in their now-submerged village.

Last time she talked to her husband by phone was Monday night, when he said her family was sitting on the roof waiting to be rescued, she said.

"I went to the police, I tried to find a private boat, but nothing, there is no help," she said.

At least 241 have died in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir, including 10 worshippers killed Tuesday when the roof of a mosque collapsed on them in the eastern city of Lahore, authorities said. At least 200 people had been killed in India, officials said.

In Pakistan, the floods were moving south, said Ahmad Kamal, a spokesman for the country's National Disaster Management Authority.

The Indian army late Monday airlifted communication equipment to restore telephone and mobile phone links damaged by floodwater. Army engineers worked Tuesday to restore communication links.

Both nation's armies airdropped relief packages to victims that included blankets, food supplies, medicine and drinking water.

Although the rains have stopped, the flood waters are likely to submerge hundreds of more villages, officials said. Pakistani authorities braced for worsening conditions as water levels in the Chenab and Indus rivers rose, Kamal said.

Meanwhile, environmental experts in India said extensive deforestation of Kashmir's mountains had made the damage from the floods worse.

With the Himalayan hills in Kashmir stripped off their green cover, fast-flowing streams were causing soil erosion and flash floods, said Krishnaswamy Srinivas of the Vasudha Foundation, a New Delhi-based environmental advocacy group.

Information for this article was contributed by Nirmala George and Zaheer Babar of The Associated Press.

A Section on 09/10/2014

Upcoming Events