NEW DELHI: Incessant heavy rains pounding several parts of north India since Saturday have resulted in sharp rising of river levels, flash floods, submerging highways, residential areas, and roads and have left over 19 people dead in various incidents of rain-related incidents like landslides, drowning and other related incidents.

With areas submerged in rain waters and overflowing rivers, normal life has been paralysed, schools and colleges are shut and in several areas like Delhi and adjoining NCR cities of Gurugram, Noida and Ghaziabad, the administration has announced that for the next two days, educational institutions would remain shut.

The railways which have been also hit due to the waterlogging of rail tracks have had to cancel many trains. The Northern Railways said that it has cancelled around 17 trains and diverted around 12 others due to the flooding of tracks.

10 people have been reportedly killed 5 each in the states of Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh (HP) due to flash floods in several regions as rivers like Beas are in spate resulting in flooding of highways and other arterial roads, while 4 people have been reported killed in Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) two in Uttar Pradesh, one each in Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan. 

Over the two days, the states of J&K, HP, Uttarakhand and Haryana have received a record amount of rainfall. According to Shimla meteorological office, Solan in HP received 135 mm of rain on Sunday, breaking a 50-year-old record of 105 mm of rain in a day that happened in 1971, while the town of Una received the highest rainfall of 228.5 mm in the last 30 years, while Nangal Dam received a rainfall of 282.5 mm in the past 24 hours. 

In J&K Kathua received a rainfall of 221.8 mm, and Ropar in Punjab received a rainfall of 282.5 mm. Delhi has received rainfall in excess of 153 mm resulting in the overflowing of the Yamuna River and causing flooding of several low-lying areas in Delhi,  while Chandigarh and Ambala in Haryana reported record rainfall of 322.2 mm and 224.1 mm, respectively in the past 24 hours. 

Several battalions of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) have been posted in several towns that are affected due to heavy rains and along with respective state's disaster response teams people are being rescued from low-lying and flooded areas and taken to safe places. 

It is feared that this number will only increase in the days to come as the rains continue to batter the northern region of the country.