Floods Claim 56 Lives, 200 Houses in India
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AMRITSAR, India — At least 56 people drowned in a river swollen by heavy rains in the Himalayan mountains Tuesday, a top Indian official said.
About 200 houses on steep mountain slopes in the state of Himachal Pradesh were washed away into the Sutlej River after a cloudburst, said Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal, the state’s highest elected representative.
An unknown number of people were missing, and many roads and bridges were damaged. Many cars were under water, and rice paddies and apple orchards suffered damage.
The death toll could increase, because there was little information so far from Kinnaur district, he said.
Details were sketchy because telephone lines were damaged in many places in the area, 250 miles north of New Delhi, the capital.
Landslides are frequent in some of the state’s districts, especially because of large-scale deforestation in recent years, according to ecologists and government reports.
Himachal Pradesh, which has numerous trekking routes, is a popular destination among Western tourists.
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