Srinagar/ Islamabad: Torrential rains across the Himalayas have killed at least 36 people in India over the past 24 hours, forcing the release of water from swollen dams and raising flood alerts downstream in neighbouring Pakistan.
The deadliest incident occurred on Tuesday afternoon when a massive landslide buried a pilgrim route near the revered Vaishno Devi shrine in the federal territory of Jammu and Kashmir, killing 33 people, local officials confirmed. Three others died in the Doda district after swollen rivers breached their banks and inundated low-lying areas.
In the northern state of Punjab, nearly 200 children were left stranded when floodwaters engulfed their school on Wednesday, according to local media. Elsewhere, vehicles were swept away after part of the Madhopur barrage over the Tawi river collapsed under the pressure of overnight rains. Authorities reported no casualties in that incident.
Major highways linking Jammu with the rest of India were also severely damaged, further hampering relief efforts. Authorities are struggling to restore power, water supply, and mobile networks in parts of Jammu and Kashmir, where communication has been disrupted.
The loss of lives due to a landslide on the route to the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Temple is saddening. My thoughts are with the bereaved families. May the injured recover at the earliest. The administration is assisting all those affected. My prayers for everyone’s safety and…
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) August 27, 2025
“We had 612 mm of rainfall in the Jammu region since August 23 till today. This is 726 percent above normal during this time of year and the highest since 1950,” Mukhtar Ahmad, Director at the India Meteorological Department in Srinagar. Forecasts warned of more heavy rain in Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh, as well as thunderstorms with gusty winds across Ladakh.
India has opened the gates of several major dams in Kashmir to release excess water, triggering flood alerts downstream in Pakistan. Islamabad confirmed receiving warnings from New Delhi about rising water levels and issued its own alerts for the Ravi, Chenab, and Sutlej rivers, which flow into its Punjab province.
Floodwaters also swept through parts of Kartarpur Sahib, a prominent Sikh shrine in Pakistan’s Punjab province. Pakistan has been battling weeks of heavy monsoon rains, which have displaced more than 167,000 people since mid-August. The official death toll from this season’s flooding in Pakistan stood at 804 as of Wednesday, nearly half of them recorded this month alone.
