Torrential rains have triggered flash floods in India and Pakistan, killing over 200 people and leaving many missing in the past 24 hours, officials said Friday, as rescuers evacuated about 1,600 people from two mountainous districts in both countries.
In Pakistan, a helicopter carrying relief supplies to the flood-hit northwestern Bajaur region crashed on Friday due to bad weather, killing all five people on board, including two pilots, a government statement said.
Sudden, intense downpours over small areas known as cloudbursts are increasingly common in India's Himalayan regions and Pakistan's northern areas, which are prone to flash floods and landslides. Cloudbursts have the potential to wreak havoc by causing intense flooding and landslides, impacting thousands of people in the mountainous regions.
Experts say cloudbursts have increased in recent years partly because of climate change, while damage from the storms also has increased because of unplanned development in mountain regions.
Top leaders in both countries offered condolences to the victims' families and assured swift relief.
