Early Monsoon Rains Flood Northern India

A submerged idol of Hindu Lord Shiva stands in the flooded River Ganges in Rishikesh, in the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand, on June 18, 2013. Torrential monsoon rains have cause havoc in northern India leading to flash floods, cloudbursts and landslides as the death toll continues to climb and more than 1,000 pilgrims bound for Himalayan shrines remain stranded. (AP Photo)

2

A horse rider is silhouetted against early monsoon clouds at Marina beach in the southern Indian city of Chennai, on June 10, 2013. (Reuters/Babu) #

3

People play in high tide waves during monsoon rains on the Arabian Sea coast in Mumbai, India, on June 12, 2013. (AP Photo/Rajanish Kakade) #

4

People gather to watch a bridge submerged in the flooded water of the River Ganges in Rudraprayag, in northern Indian state of Uttarakhand, on June 18, 2013. (AP Photo) #

5

A Hindu devotee tries to take a holy dip in the flooded waters of river Ganges in the northern Indian town of Haridwar, on June 18, 2013. (Reuters) #

6

Indian people look at a collapsed road and flooded river in the northern state of Uttarakhand, on June 17, 2013. (AFP/Getty Images) #

7

Indian army personnel rescue stranded children and other people to a safe place in the worst flood affected region of Govind Ghat, in the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand, on June 18, 2013. (AP Photo) #

8

A car sits abandoned in rubble from a landslide in Tehri, Uttarakhand, on June 19, 2013. A joint army and air force operation evacuated nearly 12,000 Hindu pilgrims stranded in a mountainous area by torrential monsoon rains and landslides in northern India, but nearly 63,000 people remain cut off, a senior official said Wednesday. (AP Photo) #

9

Buildings are partly submerged in the flooded Alaknanda River in Govind Ghat, India, on June 18, 2013. (AP Photo) #

10

Fast moving water flows over a Hindu statue during a heavy monsoon rain in Rishikesh, on June 17, 2013. (AFP/Getty Images) #

11

People survey flood damage from heavy monsoon rains in Dehradun in Uttrakhand state, on June 17, 2013. (AFP/Getty Images) #

12

A view of the Hindu holy town of Kedarnath from a helicopter after a flood, in the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand, on June 18, 2013. (AP Photo) #

13

Journalists stand on a nearly empty bridge after traffic was stopped due to a perilously high water level which nearly touched the bridge on the Yamuna River, in New Delhi, India, on June 19, 2013. Heavy rainfall in northern India has caused water to be released from barrages upstream flooding the banks of the Yamuna along New Delhi. (AP Photo/Saurabh Das) #

14

A young Indian girl plays in monsoon rainwater falling on her head from an overpass in Mumbai, on June 14, 2013. (AP Photo/Rajanish Kakade) #

15

A resident carries his belongings through an alley flooded with the rising water level of river Yamuna after heavy monsoon rains in New Delhi, on June 19, 2013. (Reuters/Anindito Mukherjee) #

16

A train powers through a flooded section of railway track after heavy rains in Mumbai, on June 16, 2013. (AP Photo/Rajanish Kakade) #

17

Indian street children play in a puddle of water along a road in New Delhi, on June 16, 2013. (Sajjad Hussain/AFP/Getty Images) #

18

A man rows past a bus partly submerged in flood water in Rishikesh, Uttarakhand state, on June 18, 2013. (AP Photo) #

19

A boy sits on a ladder next to his flooded house with the water level of the Yamuna River rising after heavy monsoon rains in New Delhi, on June 19, 2013. (Reuters/Anindito Mukherjee) #

20

Indian children play on a flooded street after heavy monsoon rains in Mumbai, on June 16, 2013. (AP Photo/Rajanish Kakade) #

21

A man rests in his rickshaw as it rains in New Delhi, on June 16, 2013. (AP Photo/Tsering Topgyal) #

22

Buses and trucks sit submerged in the rising waters of the Yamuna River in New Delhi, on June 19, 2013. (AP Photo/Tsering Topgyal) #http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2013/06/early-monsoon-rains-flood-northern-india/100537/