News brief

Flash floods triggered by torrential rains have killed over 200 people and left scores of others missing in India and Pakistan over the past 24 hours. Rescuers brought to safety some 1,600 people. Sudden, intense downpours over small areas known as cloudbursts are increasingly common in India’s Himalayan regions and Pakistan’s northern areas. 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.