Overview

• Recovery teams in Kishtwar have recovered about 60 bodies with over 100 injured and many still missing after the Aug 14 cloudburst struck Chisoti, flattening facilities along the Machail Mata pilgrimage route.
• New cloudbursts and landslides overnight in Kathua district have cut roads, damaged infrastructure and killed between four and seven residents as SDRF and army teams mount fresh rescue operations.
• Pakistan’s monsoon floods have killed over 300 people since Aug 15, with relief efforts complicated by washed-out roads and the crash of a government helicopter that killed five crew members.
• Army, NDRF, SDRF, BRO, police and local volunteers have evacuated nearly 4,000 pilgrims and are using air and ground assets to reach survivors in high-altitude terrain.
• Meteorologists have kept orange and red alerts in place across the western Himalayas as experts warn that climate-driven intensification of cloudbursts and unplanned hill development are escalating disaster risks.