Dozens Dead in Pakistan, India From Flash Floods

In one northern Pakistan village, an entire mosque was swept away
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 3, 2016 4:29 PM CDT
Dozens Dead in Pakistan, India From Flash Floods
A man maneuvers his donkey cart through a flooded road caused by heavy rains in Lahore, Pakistan on June 22, 2016.   (AP Photo/K.M. Chaudary)

Bad weather is keeping rescuers in Pakistan from helping survivors and recovering bodies after torrential monsoon rains caused flash floods that swept away homes, an army post, and a mosque Saturday into Sunday, killing dozens, CNN and the BBC report. And many others are feared missing, with an official in the northern Pakistan district of Chitral telling Al Jazeera that "some bodies might have been washed away to Afghanistan." The death toll in Chitral is said to be between 30 and 40 people. Meanwhile, NDTV says at least 40 people in the Indian states of Uttarakhand and Arunachal Pradesh have also perished from flash floods and landslides over the past few days.

Worshippers, including women and children, were in the mosque in the Chitral village of Ursoon offering a special Ramadan prayer when the floodwaters carried it away. A local disaster management authority rep says at least 16 from the mosque are believed to have died, CNN notes, with officials saying the far-flung village didn't receive an evacuation warning before the floods hit, per ABC.net. In a Sunday Facebook post, Pakistan's army says it's trying to get food, medical assistance, and tents to the displaced in Chitral as part of their rescue efforts. Al Jazeera notes that July and August rains caused by monsoons are usually very heavy and that shoddily built homes, especially in rural areas, are particularly vulnerable to being destroyed. At least 127 people died in April from heavy rain and landslides in northern Pakistan and Kashmir. (More Pakistan stories.)

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