Rains pound Karnataka
AFP, Mumbai
Rains which pummelled western India for a week have changed course and are now causing havoc in the southern state of Karnataka where 90 people have died and vast tracts are under water, officials said Thursday. Some of the flooding in Karnataka is being caused by the release of waters from dams in adjoining Maharashtra state. Maharashtra bore the brunt of the monsoon downpours that relentlessly lashed western India for a full week, bringing the financial hub Mumbai to a standstill and claiming at least 1,020 lives in the state. "A huge amount of water is being let out from these dams, flooding the low-lying areas. We have evacuated 100,000 villagers from these areas to safer places," said Krishna Vatse, head of the Maharashtra disaster management cell. Vatse said more than 10,000 rescue personnel had been deployed across the region to deal with flood relief, with troops and navy personnel helping local officials and volunteers. B.S Prakash, chief of the disaster unit in Karnataka, said many border areas were inundated when the water was released from the dams. "Over the past couple of days ... 35 people have died in the downstream border areas of Karnataka," Prakash told AFP. "During the last week 90 people have died in the state."
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