North India Rain Toll Rises As Water Level Turns Dangerous

At least 42 people have died because of heavy rains in various parts of India over three days, with raging rivers washing away national highways, bridges, buildings and vehicles, and landslides snapping the only links to many towns and villages.

People in Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Chandigarh were among the hardest hit with Himachal alone accounting for 20 deaths. Weather officials issued a red alert for Uttarakhand for Tuesday, where spells of heavy rain were forecast for several days, sparking fears of similar chaos as what the neighbouring Himalayan state has faced since the weekend.

Himachal Pradesh's chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu expressed "deep sorrow" at the deaths and said the government was "making all-out efforts" to tackle the situation, with more rain predicted.

He added that such "widespread heavy rains" had not occurred in 50 years and the state has suffered a loss of about Rs 3,000 crore in this monsoon season so far.

Authorities were waiting for the deluge to relent to dispatch helicopters to rescue about 300 people including tourists stranded in Lahaul-Spiti and Kullu in Himachal Pradesh.

The rains were so heavy across north India that they caused severe waterlogging in planned cities of Chandigarh, Panchkula and Mohali on Monday, when water from the Ghaggar and Sutlej rivers inundated urban areas, breaking bridges, breaching highways, and flooding houses and hospitals.