North India Floods: Met Predicts Heavy Rains after 48 Hours; Rescue Workers Race Against Time [PHOTOS]

The Indian Meteorological Department has predicted heavy rainfall beginning Monday in the flood-hit devastated areas in North India, where rescue operations are still on.

Rescue workers are left with crucial 48-hour to evacuate thousands of people stranded in the devastated sites, including the pilgrimage sites of Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gangotri and Yamunotri.

"We have a 48-hour window and we would do the best we can to evacuate all those stranded," Air Marshal S B Deo told reporters here, according to PTI.

More than 1,000 people are still trapped in inaccessible areas of around Kedarnath, one of the worst devastated areas.

The Indian Army and Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) are running against time to rescue the stranded after Met department predicted heavy rains, ITBP Chief Ajay Chaddha said.

"Rains should increase from June 24, starting in the Kumaon region to the Dehradun belt. There may also be light or more rains from June 25 to 28 in the entire state. We had indicated that there could be an increase in cloud cover and rain. Fog could also be a problem," said Met department Director Anand Sharma, according to CNN-IBN.

The death toll in North India has touched 550 on Friday night, according to the Uttarakhand Disaster Mitigation Centre.

Rescue operation picked up pace on Saturday and around 17 foreign tourists were rescued from Dharasu. Thousands of pilgrims are stuck in the narrow valley between Kedarnath and Guptkashi.

Cabinet Secretary Ajit Seth at a meeting with officials from the Met, Army, Air Force, ITBP, NDRF and BRO among others, reviewed the search operations in Uttarakhand.

The India Meteorological Department Director General said, "light to moderate rains could commence over western Himalayas from Sunday evening and could increase to rather heavy rains in some areas from June 26."

Meanwhile, the Uttarakhand government has set up a page to check all the information on those rescued, transported and also the list of unidentified dead bodies. (http://uk.gov.in/pages/view/481-rescue-and-relief-operations).