Monsoon floods kill nearly 300 in India, Pakistan

Landslides and flash floods triggered by heavy monsoon rains have killed nearly 300 people in large swaths of northern India and Pakistan, officials said Sunday. Five days of incessant rain in Indian-controlled Kashmir has killed at least 120 people in the region's worst flooding in more than five decades, submerging hundreds of villages and triggering landslides, officials said. In neighboring Pakistan, more than 160 people have died and thousands of homes have collapsed, with an official saying the situation was becoming a ‘national emergency.’ Rescuers in both countries were using helicopters and boats to try to reach tens of thousands of people stranded in their homes as floodwaters rose and submerged many villages. Rescue efforts in Srinagar, the main city in Indian Kashmir, were hampered by fast-moving floodwaters that submerged large parts of the city. The rains had stopped on Sunday, but officials said the spreading water that had overflowed from the Jhelum River was moving too fast to allow boats to reach many people stranded in Srinagar, according to AP.