More than 300 dead after downpours in mountainous regions and several killed in Indian city of Mumbai
Heavy monsoon rains have continued to pummel the Indian subcontinent over the past week, bringing devastating flooding and landslides and leaving hundreds of people dead in what has already been one of the deadliest monsoon seasons in recent years.
Moist air surging inland from the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea was driven into Pakistan and north-west India late last week by strong southwesterly monsoon winds. Combined with developing areas of low pressure, this triggered a succession of torrential downpours.
Last Friday more than 300 people were killed after cloudbursts – episodes in which hourly rainfall exceeds 100mm – struck mountainous regions of northern Pakistan and India. In Buner district, in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, 150mm was recorded in just one hour. The downpours unleashed destructive flash floods that swept through valleys and villages carrying rocks and debris.
More than 240 people were killed in that single event alone, making it the most catastrophic episode of the season so far. Since the onset of the monsoon in late May, Pakistan’s National Disaster Management Authority estimates that nearly 750 people have died.
