NEW DELHI: At least 15 people were killed in floods and landslides triggered by monsoon rains that battered northern India, with New Delhi receiving the most rainfall in decades, reports and officials said on Sunday.

Roads in several parts of the capital were submerged in knee-deep water as it was inundated with 153 millimetres of rain, the highest precipitation in a single day in July in 40 years.

With at least another day of heavy rain forecast, authorities have ordered schools shut in New Delhi on Monday.

The Press Trust of India news agency reported on Sunday that 15 people had been killed in the past 24 hours in six northern Indian states.

Hill states were the worst affected, leaving six dead in Himachal Pradesh alone where landslides blocked about 700 roads, Omkar Sharma, a disaster management official said.

India’s meteorological department has forecast more rain across large parts of northern India in coming days.

Official data shows monsoon rains across the country in the first week of July have already produced about two per cent more rainfall than normal.

Published in Dawn, July 10th, 2023