AT least 24 people have died and more than a dozen have gone missing after flash floods and landslides triggered by several days of heavy rain hit northern India, said officials today.

Forecasters have warned of more downpours in the coming days in southern state of Kerala, where floods have already killed at least 27 people since Friday.

Officials in the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand said 18 people were killed in landslides today, after six died in similar incidents a day earlier.

At least 13 of them were killed in three separate incidents in Nainital early Tuesday, after a cloudburst – an ultra-intense deluge of rain – triggered a landslide and destroyed several structures.

“Twenty-four people have died in the state in two days. There were six deaths yesterday, and, so far, 18 people have lost their lives today,” said Uttarakhand police chief Ashok Kumar.

Five of the dead were from a single family whose house was buried by a massive landslide, said local civil officer Pradeep Jain.

Another landslide in the northern Almora district killed five people after huge rocks and a wall of mud demolished and engulfed their house.

The Indian Meteorological Department extended and widened its weather alert today, predicting “heavy” to “very heavy” rainfall in the region over the next two days.

The weather office said several areas were drenched by more than 400mm of rainfall yesterday, causing flooding and landslides.

Authorities ordered the closure of schools and banned all religious and tourist activities in the state.

Television footage and social media videos showed residents wading through knee-deep water near Nainital Lake, a tourist hotspot, and the Ganges bursting its banks in Rishikesh.

More than 100 tourists were stuck inside a resort in Ramgarh, after the overflowing Kosi River deluged several areas.

Landslides are a regular danger in India’s Himalayan north, but experts said they are becoming more common as rains become increasingly erratic and glaciers melt.

Experts also blame construction work on hydroelectric dams and deforestation.

In February, a ferocious flash flood hurtled down a remote valley in Uttarakhand, killing about 200 people. At least 5,700 people perished there in 2013.

In the south, large parts of Kerala have been battered by floods and landslides since late last week, leaving at least 27 people dead.

Many dams in the state are nearing the danger mark and authorities are evacuating thousands to safer locations as major rivers overflowed.

The weather office said heavy rains will again lash the state in the next two days, after a brief reprieve today. – AFP, October 19, 2021.