Residents in Indian Kashmir await rescue as floods wipe out entire villages

Kashmiri residents walk along an embankment on the side of a bridge as they head for a higher ground during flooding on the outskirts of Srinagar on Sept 6, 2014. Desperate residents were huddled on rooftops on Monday, Sept 8, as they tried to survive Indian Kashmir's worst flooding in half a century which has already claimed more than 150 lives and left thousands homeless. -- PHOTO: AFP

NEW DELHI (AFP) - Desperate residents were huddled on rooftops on Monday as they tried to survive Indian Kashmir's worst flooding in half a century which has already claimed more than 150 lives and left thousands homeless.

With all phone lines down in the main city of Srinagar and roads cutoff, the exact scale of the disaster is still unclear but video footage shot from army helicopters showed entire villages completely under water.

Residents could be seen waving from rooftops while vehicles and livestock were washed away by the flood waters.

Disaster officials say some 350 villages have been submerged since torrential monsoon rains triggered flooding and landslides across the picturesque Himalayan region. Thousands of troops, police and other emergency personnel, backed by helicopters and boats, have fanned out across the Kashmir Valley and the rest of the state to deliver blankets, tents and other aid in an attempt to minimise casualties, the officials said.

"With some 750 rescue personnel in operations there, our teams have saved about 5,005 people so far," Sandeep Rai Rathore, inspector general of the National Disaster