Toll from heavy rains in west Bengal rises to 12

KOLKATA, India, Monday (AFP) Heavy rains in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal have killed 12 people and left thousands trapped by rising waters, an official said on Sunday.

"Rescuers are trying to reach out to the marooned people in boats, but swirling flood waters posed problems," West Bengal Finance Minister Asim Dasgupta told reporters after visiting waterlogged districts on the fringes of state capital Kolkata.

The minister also said two more people had died in the southern part of the state in house collapses, taking the toll in the past three days to 12.

Kolkata and southern areas of the state have been drenched by five days of rains triggered by a low pressure area over the Bay of Bengal. As much as 360 millimetres (14 inches) of post-monsoon rain have fallen since Wednesday, according to the regional weather department.

More than 3,000 villages in the coastal districts have been inundated, over 60,000 mud huts have been washed away and nearly two million people affected, officials said. The state government has sent its fishing minister to the worst-affected East Midnapore district, in the southern part of the state, where six relief camps have been set up."Villages off the India-Bangladesh border have been also been submerged, with the canals and swollen river Ichachamati and its tributaries overflowing," said Dasgupta.

Thousands of people in Indian villages on the border were trapped on rooftops as the murky waters entered their homes and roads were washed away, he said.

Kolkata Mayor Bikash Bhattacharya said low-lying areas of the city were still under knee- and waist-deep water.