India-Pakistan flood disaster prompts frantic rescue bid

Yahoo – AFP, Bhuvan Bagga, 8 Sep 2014

Residents stand on a roof as raging waters from the overflowing Tawi river

inundate a Hindu Temple in Jammu on September 6, 2014 (AFP Photo)

Authorities in India and Pakistan made frantic efforts Monday to pluck tens of thousands of people to safety from floods which have killed at least 350 as desperate residents huddled on rooftops.

With phone lines down and roads cut off, the full scale of the disaster in the cross-border Kashmir region and in Pakistan's Punjab province was still to emerge but video footage shot from army helicopters showed entire villages under water, with only tin roofs visible.

As Pakistan's premier toured some of the worst-hit areas, India deployed naval commandos as part of a massive relief effort.

Indian residents look on towards threatened

 houses as waters from the overflowing Tawi

 river rage past in Jammu on September 6, 

2014 (AFP Photo/STRDEL)

Some of the famous shikara wooden boats, which ferry tourists across the Dal Lake in Indian Kashmir's main city of Srinagar, were pressed into service to reach isolated homes.

Divers toiled to help bring people to safety while residents on both sides could be seen waving from rooftops as vehicles and livestock were washed away by surging waters below them.

Disaster officials say at least 350 villages have been submerged on the Indian side of the de facto border in Kashmir by monsoon rains, making it the deadliest flooding there in over half a century.

Thousands of troops, police and other emergency personnel, backed by helicopters and boats, fanned out across the state to deliver relief supplies, including protein biscuits and bottles of drinking water.

Others were being fed in mass volunteer-run kitchens set up by mosques.

An Indian soldier carries a toddler as

 evacuated families alight from an Indian

 Air Force Mi-17 helicopter flying a rescue

 sortie in the Rajouri district of Jammu

 and Kashmir on September 7, 2014

(AFP Photo)

The home ministry said around 20,000 people had been rescued so far but the head of the army's northern command said many more remained marooned.

"For the next 48 hours, our focus remains on Srinagar and South Kashmir because there are still large numbers of people who are stranded and who are without any food and water," General D.S. Hooda told reporters.

"It's our idea to get them out as soon as possible. We will continue... until everyone is pulled out of this situation."

An Indian Navy spokesman said teams of divers were working "day and night" to rescue survivors.

Airport cut off

Srinagar airport was cut off from the city by heavy flooding just 700 yards outside the terminal, according to an AFP correspondent.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi looks

 over a flood-affected area from an 

aeroplane during a visit to the state of 

Jammu and Kashmir on September 7, 

2014 (AFP Photo/PIB)

Delhi resident R. S. Gandhi was stuck at the airport after flying up from the capital to rescue his in-laws.

"The last time I was able to speak to them was yesterday and they had already moved up to the second floor of their building. Twelve feet of water had come into their building in just three hours," he told AFP.

"Now that I am here I don't know what to do next, how I can help or get them back to Delhi."

Communications were lost Sunday when the rain-swollen Jhelum river flooded large parts of Srinagar. Srinagar's main hospital and army barracks were among the buildings badly hit.

There was no fresh rainfall Monday and forecasters said only light drizzle was likely in the next few days. But Indian officials warned the death toll of 150 was bound to rise.

Refuge on roofs

Residents sit by the rubble of collapsed

houses which were destroyed by flood

waters from the raging Tawi river in Jammu

 on September 7, 2014 (AFP Photo/STRDEL)

In Pakistan officials said the number of dead on their side now stood at 206, with most killed in Punjab province.

Helicopters, troops and other emergency personnel have been deployed, according to Pakistan's National Disaster Management Authority.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif handed out compensation cheques to flood victims at Rawalakot in Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

"There is no compensation for life, but government will help the affected brothers and sisters to rebuild their homes," he said.

In the remote mountainous district of Haveli in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, landslides have caused major damage to roads and electricity supplies, leaving residents without power or drinking water for days.

Pakistani residents wait to be evacuated

 by boat from the flood-affected town of 

Jalalpur Bhattian in the Hafizabad district

 of Punjab province on September 8, 2014

(AFP Photo/Arif Ali)

Local politician Masood Rathor said there was a shortage of food and medicine in the area, with only one doctor to treat the population.

Tariq Umer, 38, a labourer, told of his desperate struggle to save his family and possessions.

"I was sleeping with my wife and three children when the floodwaters came at around midnight. I barely managed to get my family out and could not save anything from the house," he told AFP.

"My house and all my belongings have been swept away in the water and I have been left with nothing. Now I am taking my family to relatives for refuge."

Raja Moazam, deputy director of the disaster management authority, told AFP the death toll in Pakistani Kashmir now stood at 64.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi toured his country's sector of Kashmir Sunday, describing the situation as "a national-level disaster" and also offering relief assistance to Sharif.

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