Flash floods caused by torrential rains in a remote village in India-controlled Kashmir have left at least 56 people dead and scores missing, according to authorities.

Rescue teams continued to work at the devastated Himalayan village site on Friday.

Following a cloudburst in the region’s Chositi village, which triggered floods and landslides, disaster management officials estimated that at least 80 people were still missing until late Thursday, with many believed to have been washed away. 

A villager, Sneha, said her husband and daughter were still missing, but army personnel managed to save her son from the torrent.

Authorities brought at least 300 people to safety.

Officials halted rescue operations for the night on Thursday. Weather officials forecast more heavy rains and floods in the area.

Chositi is a remote Himalayan village in Kashmir’s Kishtwar district.

It is the last village accessible to motor vehicles on the route of an ongoing annual Hindu pilgrimage to a mountainous shrine at an altitude of 3,000 meters (9,500 feet) and about an 8-kilometer (5-mile) trek from the village.

Multiple pilgrims were also feared to be affected by the disaster.

Officials said that the pilgrimage had been suspended and more rescue teams were on the way to the area to strengthen rescue and relief operations. The pilgrimage began on July 25 and was scheduled to end on Sept. 5.

The first responders to the disaster were villagers and local officials who were later joined by police and disaster management officials, as well as personnel from India’s military and paramilitary forces.

The devastating floods swept away the main community kitchen set up for the pilgrims as well as dozens of vehicles and motorbikes.

Experts say cloudbursts have increased in recent years, partly because of climate change, while damage from the storms also has increased because of unplanned development in mountain regions.

Kishtwar is home to multiple hydroelectric power projects, which experts have long warned pose a threat to the region's fragile ecosystem.

AP video by Channi Anand