Flooding and landslides are common and cause widespread devastation during India's treacherous monsoon season, but experts say climate change is increasing their frequency and severity.
Torrential downpours have washed away vehicles, demolished buildings and torn down bridges in Himachal Pradesh, the worst-affected state.
At least 33 people have lost their lives in the state -- popular for its picturesque Himalayan hill stations -- since Saturday, said Onkar Sharma, head of the state disaster agency.
Rescue teams were mobilised to assist 40 foreign travellers -- including 14 Russians and 12 Malaysians -- stranded at tourist destinations alongside several hundred Indian nationals, state police chief Satwant Atwal told AFP.
"Due to heavy snowfall and bad weather it has become very difficult to evacuate them," Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said Wednesday on Twitter.
"We are exploring all possible options."
At least 12 people were killed in neighbouring Uttarakhand state, including nine on Tuesday when debris fell on their vehicles on a national highway, officials said.
A popular pilgrimage to the state's Kedarnath temple, home to a revered shrine of the Hindu deity Shiva, was suspended due to heavy rains.
- 'Huge loss of life' -
"In view of continuous rains in all the areas of the state, I request the people and pilgrims to avoid making unnecessary journeys," Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami wrote on Twitter.
Incessant rain had caused significant damage across Punjab state, with at least 10 killed in flash floods.
"There is a huge loss of life and property, the loss is being assessed," state revenue minister Brahm Shankar Jimpa told reporters Tuesday.
At least 11 people were killed in Uttar Pradesh, India's most populous state, according to state officials.
The capital New Delhi has also been put on high alert for flooding after the Yamuna river, which snakes past the megacity, recorded its highest levels since 1978.
The waterway has already inundated homes along its banks and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said it was expected to rise further later on Wednesday evening.
The monsoon brings South Asia around 80 percent of its annual rainfall and is vital both for agriculture and the livelihoods of millions of farmers.
But it brings destruction every year in the form of landslides and floods. Melting glaciers add to the volume of water while unregulated construction in flood-prone areas exacerbates the damage.
The rainfall is hard to forecast and varies considerably, but scientists say climate change is making the monsoon stronger and more erratic.
Thirty dead in Ivory Coast floods
Abidjan (AFP) July 12, 2023 -
Thirty people have died in Ivory Coast over the past three months in floods triggered by an exceptionally strong rainy season, the government said on Wednesday.
The country's economic capital Abidjan has been particularly hit, recording 22 deaths, spokesman Amadou Coulibaly said after a cabinet meeting.
The authorities will step up "pre-deployment" of rescue services in at-risk areas and pursue a programme to demolish illegally-built shanty homes there, he said.
Last year's rainy season claimed 19 lives.
Evacuations as US state of Vermont hit by catastrophic floods
New York (AFP) July 11, 2023 -
President Joe Biden declared a state of emergency in the northeastern US state of Vermont Tuesday as heavy rains triggered flooding from which dozens of residents were rescued by boat.
The move, which frees up funds to help relief efforts, came after officials warned that a dam close to the state capital Montpelier was nearing capacity and close to spilling into a river.
"This has never happened since the dam was built so there is no precedent for potential damage," Montpelier city manager William Fraser said in a statement late Monday, referring to the Wrightsville Dam.
There were no immediate reports of any deaths or injuries in the state from the rains, which officials said had flooded downtown Montpelier, a city of 8,000 people.
The excessive rainfall -- more than eight inches (20 centimeters) in some places, according to the National Weather Service -- came after flash floods in New York state killed a woman on Sunday.
Much of the northeastern United States, including New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and Vermont, was lashed by rain on Sunday and Monday, washing out bridges and leaving roads impassable.
More than 100 people in Vermont had been rescued from cars and homes as of midday Tuesday, officials said. Authorities were trying to airlift others by helicopter, The New York Times reported.
"We are still in a very dangerous part of this disaster. We are performing active rescues as we speak today," said Mike Cannon, an official with Vermont's Urban Search and Rescue team.
Governor Phil Scott likened the flooding to Tropical Storm Irene, which killed six people in the state in 2011.
"The devastation and flooding we're experiencing across Vermont is historic and catastrophic," he told reporters.
Scott added that despite the sun coming out on Tuesday afternoon, "it's not over."
"We expect more rain later this week which will have nowhere to go in the oversaturated ground," he warned.
More than 600 people also had to be evacuated from their homes in the neighboring Canadian province of Quebec following torrential rains.
In the space of 48 hours, nearly 5.5 inches of rain fell in the Montmorency forest, near Quebec City, causing river levels to rise rapidly, authorities said.
"Similar floods are expected in winter. But this late in the summer? It's unheard of," Josee Poulin, a 60-year-old woman from Sainte-Brigitte-de-Laval, told Le Journal de Quebec.
Scientists say that climate change intensifies the risk of heavy rain because a warmer atmosphere holds more water.
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