Heavy rains trigger landslides in northeast India; at least 7 die
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GAUHATI: Heavy rains in parts of northeastern India triggered landslides and flash floods, killing at least seven people, officials said Monday.
A senior police official in Meghalaya state said the deaths occurred in the northern part of the state.
The rains also caused heavy damage in neighboring Assam state, where floods washed away several bridges and submerged homes in Goalpara district, local official Pritam Saikia said.
Authorities asked residents to move to higher ground, and army troops and federal personnel rescued scores of people trapped by the floodwaters, he said.
Two days of rain also caused heavy flooding in Assam's capital, Gauhati. Many neighborhoods in the city of 2 million were submerged in waist-deep water.
The Bharalu River, which runs through the city, was threatening to breach its banks, police officials said. More heavy rains were forecast in the area over the next two days.
The area is prone to flooding during the June-to-September annual monsoon season. In June, at least 11 people were killed in heavy flooding in Gauhati city.
Earlier this month monsoon floods inundated Kashmir, the Himalayan region divided between India and Pakistan, killing more than 270 people in the Indian-controlled portion of the region.
