Indian officials say at least eight people have died in floods and landslides triggered by heavy rains in the remote northeast region of the country.
GAUHATI, India — At least eight people have died in floods and mudslides triggered by heavy rains in India’s remote northeastern region, officials said on Tuesday.
Several stations were not operating due to flooding, said Nazreen Ahmed, a senior administrative official in Dima Hasao district, Assam. He said nearly 200,000 people in the district have been cut off from the rest of the state as roads and bridges leading there have either been blocked by landslides or washed away.
The army has deployed helicopters to help with the rescue efforts.
Officials said four people were killed on Monday following heavy rains and mudslides in the border state of Arunachal Pradesh. Two other people died when their homes on a small hill collapsed in the state capital, Itanagar, and two road construction workers were killed in mudslides elsewhere.
Four other people were reportedly killed in the neighboring state of Assam.
The Indian meteorological department predicts very heavy to extremely heavy rains in the region for the next four days.
Landslides and floods are common in the northern Indian Himalayas. Scientists say they are becoming more common as global warming contributes to the melting of glaciers there.
In 2020, flash floods killed nearly 200 people and washed away homes in Uttarakhand state. In 2013, thousands of people were killed there during floods.
ABC News