At least 12 feared dead as sudden, heavy rain lash occupied Kashmir: official

At least 12 people were feared dead and more trapped following sudden, heavy rain in India-occupied Kashmir, an official said on Thursday.

The disaster occurred in Chasoti town of Kishtwar district, a pit stop on a popular pilgrimage route. It comes a little over a week after a heavy flood and mudslide engulfed an entire village in the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand.

“The news is grim and accurate, verified information from the area hit by the cloudburst is slow in arriving,” Omar Abdullah, the chief minister of India-occupied territory of Jammu and Kashmir, said in a post on X.

Visuals on television showed pilgrims crying in fear as water flooded the village. Local TV channels said the floodwater had washed away community kitchens set up for pilgrims.

A cloudburst, according to the Indian Meteorological Department, is a sudden, intense downpour of over 100 mm (4 inches) of rain in just one hour that can trigger sudden floods, landslides, and devastation, especially in mountainous regions during the monsoon.

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