Rescue effort expands in India, Pakistan as flood death toll tops 350

The death toll from nearly one week of heavy monsoon rains in India and Pakistan has surpassed 350, officials said Monday, as elite Indian troops joined an urgent rescue effort to reach residents marooned on rooftops and stranded in submerged homes.

The floods in the Himalayan region of Kashmir and eastern Pakistan, described as the worst in decades, have left thousands without food and water and destroyed homes across a wide swath of both countries.

Indian naval commandos deployed in the mountainous northern province of Jammu and Kashmir as military officials said that 22,000 people had been evacuated, many from the provincial capital Srinagar, parts of which were 12 feet under water.

“In the next 48 hours, our focus will be Srinagar and south Kashmir,” Lt. Gen. D.S. Hooda, an army spokesman, told reporters. “Many people are stranded without food and water. We are going to continue the operation until everyone is pulled out and rescued.”

Indian authorities set up 16 relief camps and airlifted nearly 100 tons of medicine for flood victims, officials said, but the emergency response was hampered by telephone communication failures.

More than 150 people have died in India, officials said; at least 205 people were reported killed in Pakistan.

The rains have largely subsided, but Pakistani meteorological officials said that flooding was likely to continue for one to two more days as accumulated rainwater continued to overwhelm dams, particularly in the hard-hit state of Punjab, where 131 people died, according to the National Disaster Management Authority.

Pakistani rescue workers fanned out across the area in small boats as families picked through the wreckage of homes leveled by flood waters and mudslides.

The scale of the devastation has, for now, brought a sense of solidarity between India and Pakistan, nuclear-armed neighbors whose relations suffered a setback last month when a diplomatic summit was abruptly canceled. Both countries claim the disputed territory of Kashmir in its entirety; it is currently divided between them along a heavily militarized Line of Control.

Although the countries are not collaborating in relief efforts, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi wrote to his Pakistani counterpart, Nawaz Sharif, on Sunday offering New Delhi’s assistance. Sharif replied on Monday, expressing gratitude for the “thoughtful” gesture.

“It is an unfortunate reality that South Asia remains one of the most disaster-prone regions of the world,” Sharif said. “I believe closer collaboration in disaster management should be a part of our agenda of peace and development in the region.”

Parth M.N. is a special correspondent.

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