In this Thursday, Sept. 4, 2014 photo, Kashmiri residents struggle to withstand sudden and strong water currents while wading through floodwaters in their efforts to move to safer places in Srinagar, India.Dar Yasin/The Associated Press
Army and air force troops worked through the night to rescue thousands of people stranded across Indian part of Kashmir and sections of northern and eastern Pakistan where more than 320 people have been killed in landslides and flash floods, an Indian official said Monday.
Six days of rains in Indian-controlled Kashmir have left more than 120 people dead in the region's worst flooding in more than five decades, submerging hundreds of villages and triggering landslides, officials said. In neighbouring Pakistan, more than 205 people have died and thousands of homes have collapsed.
In Islamabad, Pakistan's National Disaster Management Authority spokesman Ahmad Kamal said the death toll from the latest flash floods had risen to 205 people with at least 383 more injured over the past six days.
Pakistani troops were helping civilian authorities in rescue operations and in getting aid to stranded villagers, the Pakistani army said in a statement.
So far nearly 9,000 people have been evacuated from nearly 530 villagers that were inundated by flood waters, Kamal said.
He said authorities were gearing up to deal with worsening conditions as the waters of the Chenab and Indus Rivers were rising.
Pakistani TV channels showed pictures of flooding from different cities and villagers, with the water raging through streets, causing heavy losses.
Kamal said flash floods and landslides had killed 131 people in Pakistan's Punjab district, and 74 others in the Kashmir and Gilgit areas.
The northern Himalayan region of Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan, and is claimed in its entirety by both countries. Two of the three wars the countries have fought since independence from Britain in 1947 have been over Kashmir.
Meanwhile, more than 5,200 people have been rescued from various parts of Indian-controlled Kashmir, said O P Singh, director of India's National Disaster Response Force.
Blankets and food were being supplied to people stranded on rooftops, he said, as most parts of Srinagar, the main city in Indian-controlled Kashmir, were submerged.
Omar Abdullah, chief minister of India's Jammu and Kashmir state, said the floods were the worst to hit Kashmir in decades.
"This is an unprecedented situation and we are doing the best we can under the circumstances. Please don't panic, we will reach you, I promise," he tweeted.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi who surveyed the flood-hit areas by helicopter on Sunday, called the flooding a "national disaster." He promised the state an additional 10 billion rupees (nearly $170 million) for aid and compensation to those hit by the floods.
But the floods also gave the Indian prime minister an opportunity to reach out to his counterpart in rival Pakistan.
In a letter to Nawaz Sharif on Sunday, Modi offered assistance in relief efforts in the Pakistan-controlled portion of Kashmir.
"In this hour of need, I offer any assistance that you may need in the relief efforts that will be undertaken by the Government of Pakistan. Our resources are at your disposal wherever you need them," Modi wrote to Sharif.