Villagers and people celebrating a Hindu festival in northern India were forced to cross a flooded river using a precarious-looking rope.

Footage captured on September 2 in Sirmaur district shows locals and devotees heading to a festival in a nearby village by shimmying across the rope.

Some use a cart to pull themselves across the raging water.

Villagers say the system is the only way to cross the river as the local government has not constructed a new bridge.