TEMPO.CO, New Delhi - At least 130 people killed and 70,000 others displaced after torrential rains devastated two states in northern India, private television station NDTV reported on Wednesday, June 19.
NTVD reported that thousands of houses in the states of Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh were swept by the floods and authorities had to use helicopters to evacuate people and deliver food supplies.
An unnamed official said that over the past week Northern India has had torrential rains at least three times higher than usual. The official also said that the annual monsoon broke two weeks ahead of schedule, leaving thousands of pilgrims and tourists stranded.
"The state government and the army are trying to rescue thousands of tourists who are stranded near the submerged valleys and Hindu shrines," said Jaspal Arya, the Disaster Relief Minister of Uttarakhand.
Arya said portions of the famous Hindu temple, Kedarnath, were washed away on Tuesday and about 10,000 pilgrims were in need of rescuing. "The Kedarnath temple is submerged in mud and slush. We just hope that it does not collapse," Arya told the AFP news agency.
The heavy rains prompted authorities to cancel pilgrimage trips in northern India's holy sites fearing further rains and landslides. The area where the Kedarnath temple stands is often referred to as the "Land of the Gods" due to its many Hindu temples and religious sites.
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