In Indian Kashmir, where flooding has stranded thousands and a botched government response has stirred up increasing anger, landslides are now adding to the problems, Reuters reports. Flooding has already killed more than 400 people across India and Pakistan. According to Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh, the floods are the worst Kashmir has experienced in the past hundred years. Of 1,200 villages affected in Kashmir, one-third are now reported to be completely underwater.
Pakistan’s Disaster Management Authority, meanwhile, estimates that 2 million people have been affected by the flooding in that country. Flooding has also destroyed 700,000 acres of crops in Pakistan, according to the Times of India. Authorities have blasted holes in dykes in an attempt to redirect water away from Multan, an important hub of Pakistan’s cotton industry. The flooding is the worst to hit Pakistan since 2010, when water-related damage cost the country an estimated $9.7 billion in lost crops and damages.
In other areas, the receding of the floodwaters only marks the beginning of new problems, as emergency services are overwhelmed and contaminated food and water risk transmitting diseases like typhoid and cholera. In Vadodara, India, crocodiles have been spotted by city residents, and more than 450 tons of garbage have been removed in the cleanup effort thus far.
