Floodwaters entered many residential areas on the outskirts of Srinagar, the main city in Indian-controlled Kashmir, on Thursday after a breach of the Jhelum river embankment.

Thousands of people were evacuated from low lying areas, officials said.

Relentless monsoon rains have unleashed some of the worst flooding and landslides in decades across northern India, displacing hundreds of thousands in recent weeks and destroying crops and livestock.

Rescue teams from the national and state disaster response forces were deployed to rescue those stranded in low-lying areas and from homes affected by floods.

India’s Himalayan Mountain states and territories such as Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, as well as Punjab state, are among the worst affected.

The Kashmir valley has been facing disruptions in transport links, with the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway closed for traffic after intense rains.

Experts say human-caused climate change is intensifying South Asia’s monsoons, which traditionally run from June to September and again from October to December.

The rains, once predictable, now arrive in erratic bursts that dump extreme amounts of water in short periods, followed by dry spells.

AP video by Mehraj Ud Din