Flood deaths in India and Nepal cross 150

Members of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) evacuate stranded people following heavy rains at Chhara village in Nainital district, in the northern state of Uttarakhand, India, October 20, 2021. REUTERS FILE PHOTO

NEW DELHI — More than 150 people have died in flooding across India and Nepal, officials said on Thursday, as unseasonably heavy rains across the region led to flash floods in several areas, stranding residents and destroying homes and infrastructure.

The north Indian state of Uttarakhand has been especially badly-hit, with 48 confirmed deaths, SA Murugesan, secretary of the state’s disaster management department told Reuters.

In Nainital, a popular tourist destination in the Himalayan state, the town’s main lake broke its banks, submerging the main thoroughfare and damaging bridges and rail tracks. And rescuers from India’s paramilitary National Disaster Response Force were evacuating residents from communities hit by landslides.

India’s federal interior minister Amit Shah is set to survey affected areas on Thursday.

Some 42 people have died in the last week in the southern Indian state of Kerala, according to a statement from the chief minister’s office.

In neighboring Nepal, at least 77 people have died.

India’s annual monsoon rains usually run from June to September.