Monday, September 4 2006 11:41 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Incessant rains pounded North India claiming 10 lives overnight as schools and colleges were shut in flood-battered Jammu and Kashmir which remained cut-off while a fresh alert was sounded in two districts of Madhya Pradesh after rivers rose alarmingly.

Six perished in worst-hit Jammu and Kashmir, three in Uttar Pradesh and one in Punjab as higher reaches in Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh received fresh snowfall setting in wintery conditions.

Army and Air Force were put on standby and schools and colleges shut in Jammu and Kashmir where the flood situation worsened after water level of major rivers rose menacingly.

Road links to Kashmir valley remained snapped for the third consecutive day as vehicles on Srinagar-Jammu and Srinagar-Leh highways could not ply due to landslips at many places.

Over 2,000 passengers were stranded at several places, officials said adding flood waters entered the Sher-I-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences in Srinagar forcing evacuation of 100 patients.

Six inches to one feet of snow was deposited in higher] reaches near the world famous ski resort of Gulmarg. The Amarnath shrine and its adjoining areas were also covered under a white sheet.

A boy was killed in a house collapse, triggered by heavy monsoon rains, in Amritsar in Punjab as showers drenched North India.

Jammu, which received 137 mm of rains, was the wettest place in the region.