30 dead, 38 missing in India flooding

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UTTARKASHI, India, Aug. 4 (UPI) -- Thirty people were killed Saturday and 38 are missing as flash floods and landslides battered the Garhwal region of India, officials said.

The swollen Bhagirathi and Ujh rivers were threatening Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir as incessant monsoon rains pounded the area, CNN-IBN said.

The India Meteorological Department warned residents of heavy rains and cloud bursts, and has asked the army to assist those affected, Press Trust of India reported Saturday.

Dozens of homes have been flattened or swept away by the deluge and the Gangori bridge collapsed, the Press Trust said.

"We have now reports that three [soldiers] of the fire brigade and two others were killed in Gangori," said state disaster management minister Yashpal Arya.

Nineteen workers on the Assi Ganga river hydroelectricity project went missing Saturday after a cloud burst in the upper hills of the Uttarkashi district, while another 19 were missing throughout Gangori, Dunda, Uttarkashi town and Barkot, PTI reported.

"We have launched a manhunt to trace the missing people," said Uttarkashi District Magistrate R. Rajesh Kumar.