Rescue and evacuation operations in calamity-hit Uttarakhand were hampered by heavy rains in Dehradun and other parts of the state Monday even as help for the survivors continued to pour in.
The army, the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) are scrambling to evacuate those who are stranded.
The government says 557 bodies have been found and some 20,000 people were still awaiting evacuation. Some officials and rescuers have said the fatalities may run into hundreds, if not thousands.
State officials said rains were lashing Rudraprayag and once again communication to Tilwada and Gaurikund has been cut off.
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More than 500 people are stuck at Gaurikund, but efforts to bring them back to safety had to be aborted following heavy rains in the region, an army official told IANS.
Rains are also lashing Guptkashi, Harsil and Badrinath - places were hundreds and thousands are still stranded.
Eight helicopters of the Indian Air Force (IAF) were pulled back from rescue operations following heavy rains and inclement weather in Devprayag, which made flying dangerous and at places impossible.
Water levels have once again risen in the Alaknanda and Mandakini rivers in the Rudraprayag region owing to the heavy rains. Other parts in the state, including Pithoragarh, Nainital, Champawat, Udhamsinghnagar and Haldwani, also received widespread rains Monday.
Uttarakhand's Minister for Disaster Management Yashpal Arya told IANS that for now, the focus of the state government and other agencies was on rescuing people stranded in various parts of the Char Dham Yatra route.
A cloudburst has also been reported from Thalisain in Paudhi though initial reports said no casualties have taken place.
Army officers who are involved in the rescue operations conceded that rains and inclement weather have slackened the pace of the evacuation and the choppers would only be flying in full force once the weather clears up.
Aerial surveys done by them and eyewitness accounts of people who have come back to safety suggest that more than 15,000 people are still stranded.
In New Delhi, aid agency Save the Children said Monday that thousands of children and women who are stuck in Uttarakhand need immediate medical attention and food before the weather deteriorates.
"Thousands of children and families have been left stranded in mountains by heavy monsoon rains that swept through the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand," it said in a release.
Delhi legislators would give Rs.10 lakh each from their local development fund and one month's salary as aid to flood-ravaged Uttarakhand, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit announced Monday.
Talking to reporters after a cabinet meeting, Dikshit said: "To provide help to flood-affected victims in Uttarakhand, we have decided that MLAs (legislators) would contribute their one month's salary and Rs.10 lakh from their respective MLALAD (Member of Legislative Assembly Local Area Development) Fund to the Chief Minister's Relief Fund.'
Also in New Delhi, Congress president Sonia Gandhi flagged off trucks carrying relief material Uttarakhand.
The trucks carried food articles, medicines, clothes and blankets for the flood-affected people.
Party vice president Rahul Gandhi, who later arrived in Dehradun to assess the situation, was also present.
The Meghalaya government Sunday sent a rescue team to the flood-ravaged state of Uttarakhand to rescue pilgrims and tourists stranded there for the past one week.
"We have rushed a special team comprising members of the Meghalaya paragliding association to assist them in coordinating with all the rescue operations in Uttarakhand," Chief Minister Mukul Sangma told journalists here Monday.
"I personally feel that their (paragliders) services can be of use in reaching out to those areas where helicopters cannot reach due to treacherous terrain," he said.
In Dharamsala, hundreds of Tibetan exiles Monday offered prayers for those who died in Uttarakhand and in landslides in Himachal Pradesh.
An appeal has also been made to donate for the victims as a "gesture of solidarity".
"Around 1,000 exiles, monks and well-wishers held prayers for the well-being of the injured and for those who have lost their precious lives," Sonam Dorjee, head of the local Tibetan Settlement Office, which organised the prayers, told IANS.
Special prayers were held at the hill-top Tsuglagkhang temple close to the official palace of the Dalai Lama at McLeodganj near here.