New Delhi: Northern India reeled under a fresh wave of monsoon fury on Wednesday, with cloudbursts and torrential downpours disrupting life across several states. In Uttarakhand, nearly 2,500 tourists were stranded in Mussoorie after the main Dehradun–Mussoorie road was washed out, while Himachal Pradesh reported deadly landslides and flash floods that swept away homes. Punjab, still recovering from the recent inundation, raised its flood death toll to 57, even as evacuation and relief camps continued. Uttar Pradesh witnessed lightning strikes and waterlogging across multiple districts, leaving three dead, while the
national capital saw dark skies, intermittent showers and a yellow alert issued by the weather office. From broken bridges in the hills to flooded markets in cities, rescue teams and state authorities scrambled to restore connectivity and safeguard residents as the heavy rains extended their grip across the region.
The sudden cloudbursts in Dehradun district on Tuesday tore through the main route to Mussoorie, washing away stretches of road at multiple points. Police appealed to visitors to remain where they were—whether at hotels, guest houses, or homestays—until the highway could be reopened.
Officials said the number of stranded people was much higher a day earlier, but many managed to exit Mussoorie through Vikasnagar after authorities cleared a longer 80-kilometre diversion that had itself been blocked by landslides. The usual road between Dehradun and Mussoorie is only 35 km.
To ease the crisis, engineers began installing a Bailey bridge at Kolhukhet. “Debris has been partially cleared from two points along the route, but the bridge installation will take a little more time,” a police officer posted in Mussoorie said. IAS officer Rahul Anand, overseeing the operation, said by Wednesday evening that the work would be completed “in a couple of hours,” after which the road would open to light vehicles. The new bridge, he added, would also allow heavy machinery such as JCBs to reach landslide-hit areas beyond Kolhukhet for clearing operations.
In a gesture of solidarity, the Mussoorie Hotel Owners’ Association offered complimentary stays to stranded tourists for one night, officials confirmed.
Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said his government’s priority was restoring roads, electricity and damaged infrastructure. “Our effort is to repair the damaged infrastructure and restore road and power connectivity at the earliest,” he stated, noting that 85 percent of power lines had already been repaired. He also confirmed that about 1,000 people had been rescued from various locations. Disaster Management Secretary Vinod Kumar Suman reported that more than 10 roads and bridges had been damaged, five of them severely, with entire stretches washed away. Worst-affected areas included Sahastradhara, Premnagar, Mussoorie, Narendra Nagar, Pauri, Pithoragarh and Nainital.
Neighbouring Himachal Pradesh also faced devastation as landslides and flash floods killed three members of a family. Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu convened a high-level meeting to assess the damage and announced relocation of people still living in unsafe structures. “Under the Special Relief Package, the state government is providing Rs 10,000 and Rs 5,000 as rent in urban and rural areas for those rendered homeless during the disaster,” Sukhu said in an official statement.
Himachal Pradesh has endured an exceptionally wet monsoon. Sukhu noted that rainfall this September has been 136 per cent above average, with 45 per cent excess recorded across the season. Since June 20, the state has seen 46 cloudbursts, 98 flash floods and 145 major landslides. The monsoon has claimed 417 lives, left 45 people missing and caused an estimated Rs 4,582 crore in losses. Officials added that more than 1,500 families have been left homeless.
In the last 48 hours alone, five people died—three in Nihari and two near Pandoh Mohal Suma in Mandi district—while two others were reported missing. Authorities were directed to restore connectivity in apple-producing regions and ensure supplies of power and drinking water.
Punjab continued its recovery from recent flooding, where the death toll rose to 57 after one more fatality was reported from Barnala district, Revenue Minister Hardeep Singh Mundian said. He added that the number of relief camps had declined from 41 to 38, with the population housed in them falling by 769 within 24 hours, an indication that rehabilitation was progressing.
According to official figures, 23,340 people have been evacuated since the flooding began, while 2,484 villages and nearly 3.9 lakh people have been affected. Crop damage has been reported across almost two lakh hectares of farmland, with new data from Fazilka pushing the total affected area higher. In the national capital, skies remained overcast on Wednesday and several parts of the city received showers. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) issued a yellow alert, advising that the situation be closely monitored in line with its colour-coded guidelines. Safdarjung, Delhi’s primary observatory, recorded 45.2 mm of rainfall, while other stations reported varying amounts—25.6 mm at Lodi Road, 17 mm at Mayur Vihar, and smaller totals at Ayanagar and Ridge.
The capital registered a maximum temperature of 35.3 degrees Celsius, slightly below normal, and a minimum of 25.6 degrees Celsius. Humidity levels fluctuated between 82 per cent in the morning and 55 per cent in the evening. The weather office forecasts cloudy skies with chances of light rain on Thursday.
Uttar Pradesh also witnessed heavy rainfall. In Jaunpur, three lives were lost in a lightning strike. In Kanpur, two feet of water inundated streets, bringing traffic to a halt and damaging merchandise in low-lying markets. Lucknow saw sudden darkening skies in the afternoon before a storm drenched the city, flooding municipal buildings and even classrooms in Colvin College.
A rare incident was reported from Lakhimpur Kheri where a 15-foot python devoured a dog in a sugarcane field and attempted to attack a young farmer before being captured by forest officials. In Siddharthnagar, authorities opened all gates of a dam on the swollen Ban Ganga river after water levels rose alarmingly.
The IMD issued alerts for 30 districts in Uttar Pradesh, predicting heavy rainfall in six. Over the past 24 hours, 48 districts recorded rainfall far above average, with Bahraich logging the highest at 104 mm. Meteorologists have forecast more showers in parts of eastern Rajasthan over the next three to four days, while most other areas of the state are likely to remain dry.