India, Dec. 31 -- A brutal monsoon season left a trail of death and destruction across northern India in August. On August 5, flash floods tore through villages on the banks of the Kheer Ganga river in Uttarkashi. The deluge killed at least five people and left more than 70 missing. About 50 hotels and 40 homes were swept away. Nine days later, a cloudburst struck Chashoti in Kishtwar, Jammu and Kashmir, killing 68 pilgrims on the Machail Mata Yatra route. Later that month, Punjab was swamped by its worst floods in 37 years as major rivers overflowed. The Sutlej, Beas and Ravi breached their banks following heavy rainfall and dam releases. Nearly 1,900 villages across 13 districts were submerged, killing more than 50 and displacing 350,000 ...