Flashfloods displace thousands in Assam
Three more die
AFP, Guwahati
Three more people died as rivers swelled through eastern India, leaving an estimated 150,000 people displaced at the start of the flood season, officials said yesterday. Two children drowned in the northeastern state of Assam and a man was swept away by gushing waters in adjoining Tripura Wednesday, local officials said. The deaths raise to 10 the number of people killed so far in annual floods, after a family of three died when their hut collapsed in northeastern Mizoram and four drowned in Bihar state. In Assam, at least six of the 23 districts were affected by the first wave of floods displacing an estimated 150,000 people, state Flood Control Minister Nurzamal Sarkar told AFP. Many of those hit by the floods were being put up in schools and makeshift shelters on higher ground, a government spokesman said. More than 1,000 people died last year in floods across India triggered by monsoon rains and melting snows from the Himalayas. Earlier, at least 50 villages were submerged and rail services paralysed as the first of the annual flash floods hit the eastern Indian state of Bihar, an official said. There were no immediate reports of casualties, the official in the state's flood control centre said. Floods brought life to a halt in two of Bihar's districts bordering Nepal after incessant rains since Thursday caused the Bhuthi Balan, Budhi Gandak and Baghmati rivers to overflow their banks, the official said. Rainwater had submerged rail tracks in Samastipur district, 200 km from the state capital Patna, affecting services, a railway spokeswoman said.
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An Indian couple carry their belongings while evacuating their flooded house in Radhanagar on the outskirt of the Tripura state capital of Agartala yesterday. Three more people died as rivers swelled through eastern India, leaving an estimated 150,000 people displaced at the start of the flood season. More than 1,000 people died last year in floods across India triggered by monsoon rains and melting snows from the Himalayas. PHOTO: AFP |