“Nature has been testing us. In the last few days, we have had to deal with landslides, cloudbursts and other natural calamities,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said at the start of a nearly two-hour speech on the country’s 79th Independence Day.
A cloudburst, according to the Indian Meteorological Department, is a sudden, intense downpour of over 100mm of rain in just one hour that can trigger sudden floods, landslides, and devastation, especially in mountainous regions during the monsoon.
In neighbouring Nepal, at least 41 people have died, 21 are missing and 121 injured in floods, heavy rains, landslides and hailstorms since early monsoon rains started in June this year, according to data provided by the country’s disaster management authority.
In Pakistan, at least 117 people have died in monsoon rains in the last 24 hours, disaster authorities said on Friday.
The majority of the deaths, 110, were recorded in mountainous Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, according to the province’s Disaster Management Authority.
Another seven were killed in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, regional disaster management authorities said.
Source: CNA
