Flashfloods In North India: Schools Shut In Uttarakhand, Death Toll Rises To 320 In Himachal

Last Updated:August 31, 2025, 23:51 IST

Flash floods, landslides, and heavy rains devastate Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, and Uttarakhand.

A combination of images show how houses were swept away in a flashflood triggered by a cloudburst at Dharali, in Uttarakhand's Uttarkashi district on August 5. (Image: PTI)

Flash Floods in North India: Cloudbursts, landslides, and flash floods in recent days have wreaked havoc across Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, and Uttarakhand, with the Central government constituting Inter-Ministerial Central Teams (IMCTs) to assess the damage caused by heavy rainfall, officials said.

Govt Forms Inter-Ministerial Central Teams

As per news agency PTI, the IMCTs would make on-the-spot assessments of the situation and relief works being carried out by the state governments.

The Ministry of Home Affairs constituted the IMCTs on the direction of Union Home Minister Amit Shah, an official statement said.

Early next week, the Central teams will visit the flood/landslide-affected districts of Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir, which have been severely affected by heavy to extremely heavy rainfall and incidents of flash flood, cloudburst and landslide during the current monsoon season.

An IMCT and a multi-sectoral team have already visited Himachal Pradesh, the statement said.

The Central teams led by a joint secretary-level officer in the home ministry/National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) comprise senior officials from the ministries/departments of expenditure, agriculture and farmers’ welfare, Jal Shakti, power, road transport and highways, and rural development, the statement said.

During the 2025-26 financial year, the Centre has released Rs 10,498.80 crore to 24 states in State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF), so as to enable them to provide relief assistance to the affected people.

Uttarakhand: Schools Closed On Monday, 19 NHPC Employees Stuck

All educational institutions across the state have been instructed to remain closed on Monday after the India Meteorological Department (IMD) warned that heavy rainfall could trigger landslides and flash floods in Uttarakhand in September.

“Many rivers originate in Uttarakhand. So, heavy rainfall means many rivers will be flooded, and it will impact cities and towns downstream. So, we should keep this in mind," news agency PTI quoted IMD Director General Mrutyunjay Mohapatra as saying.

Meanwhile, nineteen employees of National Hydroelectric Power Corporation Limited (NHPC) were trapped inside a power house for hours on Sunday as a landslide blocked normal and emergency tunnels of Dhauliganga Power Project in Uttarakhand’s Pithoragarh, officials said.

However, all of them were rescued by the administration by the evening, they said.

The path leading to the normal and emergency tunnels of the 280 MW power project in the Ealagarh area near Dharchula here in the district was blocked due to a landslide caused by heavy rains.

Punjab Reels Under Massive Floods

Additionally, rain lashed several parts of Punjab on Sunday, even as the state reels under massive floods triggered by the swollen Sutlej, Beas and Ravi rivers and seasonal rivulets due to heavy downpour in their catchment areas.

The worst-hit districts by floods in Punjab include Pathankot, Gurdaspur, Fazilka, Kapurthala, Tarn Taran, Ferozepur, Hoshiarpur and Amritsar, where relief and rescue efforts by the NDRF, Army, BSF, Punjab Police and district authorities continued on a war footing.

In just one week, 1,018 villages across several districts have been ravaged and over three lakh acres of farmland have been destroyed

Death Toll Rises To 320 In Himachal Pradesh

The monsoon havoc in Himachal Pradesh since June 20 has claimed 320 lives, with 166 deaths caused by rain-related incidents such as landslides, flash floods, cloudbursts, drowning, electrocution, and other calamities, and 154 in road accidents, according to the State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA).

The SDMA’s cumulative loss report shows widespread destruction across the hill state, with total damages estimated at Rs 3,05,684.33. The disaster has also left 379 people injured and 1,280 houses fully damaged, besides 40 shops and factories, 35,240 animal and poultry deaths, and large-scale losses to crops, horticulture, and public infrastructure.

As of Sunday evening, 662 roads, including four national highways, 985 distribution transformers, and 495 water supply facilities, remained disrupted due to heavy rains and related incidents, the SDMA said in its latest public utility status report.

Rain-related fatalities were highest in Mandi district (29 deaths), followed by Kangra (30), Chamba (14), Kinnaur (14), and Kullu (15). Road accidents took the heaviest toll in Chamba and Mandi (22 each), followed by Kangra (19) and Shimla (16).

(With inputs from agencies)

Shobhit Gupta

Shobhit Gupta is a sub-editor at News18.com and covers India and International news. He is interested in day to day political affairs in India and geopolitics. He earned his BA Journalism (Hons) degree from Ben...Read More

Shobhit Gupta is a sub-editor at News18.com and covers India and International news. He is interested in day to day political affairs in India and geopolitics. He earned his BA Journalism (Hons) degree from Ben...

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First Published:

August 31, 2025, 23:47 IST

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