Flooding and landslides are common and cause widespread devastation during India’s treacherous monsoon season, but experts say climate change is increasing their frequency and severity.
In Himachal Pradesh, 50 people were killed in the past 24 hours, up from an earlier official toll of 41. That included at least nine killed in the collapse of a Hindu temple in the state capital, Shimla.
“There is no previous record of such rains and more than 50 deaths in the state in a 24 hour period—and this toll can go up further, because there are still about 20 people under the rubble,” chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu told local media late Monday.
At least eight others have also been killed since Friday in neighboring Uttarakhand state, officials said.