Officials reported on Monday that at least 18 people have died due to landslides caused by heavy rainfall in the Indian Himalayas over the weekend, with dozens remaining trapped or missing. Unusually heavy rains and melting glaciers have led to deadly floods in the mountainous regions of India, Pakistan, and neighboring Nepal over the past year or two, with government officials attributing the events to climate change.
Television footage from Himachal Pradesh showed homes flattened by the landslides, buses and cars teetering on the edges of cliffs after roads collapsed, and hundreds of people at rescue sites as emergency teams struggled to clear the debris. Reports of additional casualties continued to emerge as the Chief Minister of the state, Sukhuinder Singh, inspected some of the affected areas.
He stated via the platform "X" that in one of the deadliest incidents, a temple in Shimla, the state capital, collapsed, with rescuers recovering at least nine bodies. State officials have ordered the closure of schools and other educational institutions and have moved at-risk individuals to safe shelters.
