At least 4 killed, dozens missing, in flash flood in northern India, says official

NEW DELHI (AP) - A flash flood caused by heavy rains swept through a mountainous area of northern India yesterday, killing at least four people, sweeping away 14 homes and leaving the fate of dozens more people unclear, a local official said.

Landslides in the Himalayan region of Rampur, have blocked highways, stopped train service and knocked out electricity in many areas, Tarun Kapoor, the top local administrator, said in a telephone interview.

The area hit by the flash flood is about 500 kilometers (310 miles) from New Delhi.

Kapoor said four bodies had been recovered, but that 50 people whose houses were destroyed were missing. Whether they had escaped the flooding, or had been caught up in the raging waters, remained unclear, he said.

The Press Trust of India news agency quoted local village council members as saying that more than 60 people had been swept away.

Devastating floods have laid waste to much of northern India and Bangladesh in recent weeks, killing more than 2,000 people and displacing millions.

Monsoon rains usually hit South Asia from June to September. They are vital to farmers whose crops feed hundreds of millions of people, but are also deadly. More than 2,100 people have died this year, double the number killed in 2006.