Floods kill 27, destroy villages in India
Source: Agencies |
June 30, 2012, Saturday
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RAGING floodwaters fed by monsoon rains have inundated more than 2,000 villages in northeast India, sweeping away homes and leaving hundreds of thousands of people marooned yesterday. At least 27 people were killed, but the toll was expected to rise.
The Indian air force was delivering food packages to people huddled on patches of dry land along with cattle and wild elephants. Rescuers were dropped by helicopter into affected areas to help the stranded, but pouring rain was complicating operations.
About 1 million people have had to evacuate their homes as the floods from the swollen Brahmaputra River - one of Asia's largest - swamped 2,084 villages across most of Assam state, officials said.
Assam's flooded capital of Gauhati was hit by mudslides that buried three people. Many of the city's 2 million residents were using rubber dinghies and small wooden boats in the flooded streets. Most businesses were closed.
Officials have counted 27 people dead so far, but the toll is expected to be much higher as unconfirmed casualty reports mount. Many of the victims have drowned, including five people whose boat capsized amid choppy waves.
Telephone lines were knocked out and some train services were canceled after their tracks were swamped by mud. As the floods soaked the Kaziranga game reserve east of Gauhati, motorists reported seeing a one-horned rhino fleeing along a busy highway.
"We never thought it would turn this grim," said Nilomoni Sen Deka, an Assam government minister.
Residents of Majuli - an 800-square-kilometer island in the middle of the Brahmaputra River - watched helplessly as the waters swallowed 50 villages and swept away homes.
"We are left with only the clothes we are wearing," said 60-year-old Puniram Hazarika, one of about 75,000 island residents now camping in makeshift shelters on top of a mud embankment.
The Indian air force was delivering food packages to people huddled on patches of dry land along with cattle and wild elephants. Rescuers were dropped by helicopter into affected areas to help the stranded, but pouring rain was complicating operations.
About 1 million people have had to evacuate their homes as the floods from the swollen Brahmaputra River - one of Asia's largest - swamped 2,084 villages across most of Assam state, officials said.
Assam's flooded capital of Gauhati was hit by mudslides that buried three people. Many of the city's 2 million residents were using rubber dinghies and small wooden boats in the flooded streets. Most businesses were closed.
Officials have counted 27 people dead so far, but the toll is expected to be much higher as unconfirmed casualty reports mount. Many of the victims have drowned, including five people whose boat capsized amid choppy waves.
Telephone lines were knocked out and some train services were canceled after their tracks were swamped by mud. As the floods soaked the Kaziranga game reserve east of Gauhati, motorists reported seeing a one-horned rhino fleeing along a busy highway.
"We never thought it would turn this grim," said Nilomoni Sen Deka, an Assam government minister.
Residents of Majuli - an 800-square-kilometer island in the middle of the Brahmaputra River - watched helplessly as the waters swallowed 50 villages and swept away homes.
"We are left with only the clothes we are wearing," said 60-year-old Puniram Hazarika, one of about 75,000 island residents now camping in makeshift shelters on top of a mud embankment.
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