Rescuers have pulled three bodies from landslides in Indian Kashmir and are searching for those still buried as hundreds fled their homes after flooding triggered by heavy rain.

Police and witnesses said landslides on Monday had buried 16 people in several houses in Chadoora, the worst hit area of the Himalayan region where hundreds were killed in devastating floods last September.

"We have extricated three bodies from under the landslide so far," said regional police chief Javid Gillani.

"We have some more equipment in place and that will allow us to speed up looking for the rest."

A villager described how the ground above the houses in Chadoora, 15km west of the main city of Srinagar, collapsed without warning.

"All of them just suddenly got buried alive. Now they are nowhere to be found," Mohammad Sultan told AFP.

One local police officer speaking on condition of anonymity said there was "no hope of finding anyone alive" given the scale of the landslide.

Gillani said 237 families had been evacuated, most of them from Chadoora, after the government issued a flood alert on Monday when the River Jhelum swelled to dangerously high levels.

One man was washed away, presumed dead, in Pacheri village some 250km south of Srinagar, when he tried to cross a flash flood in his car.

With more rain forecast for the next few days, authorities set up relief camps in Srinagar and urged people living near the Jhelum to move to safer areas.

Many residents said they did not trust the authorities after the floods last September that killed around 300 people, left thousands more homeless and destroyed property and infrastructure worth an estimated $US16 billion ($A20.6 billion).