Monsoon death toll tops 700 in India
INDIA: More than 700 people have died in flooding and storms across
India since the monsoon hit in June, officials said Friday after
reporting 27 more dead in Uttar Pradesh.
India’s most populated state has accounted for 660 deaths, relief
commissioner G.K. Tandon told AFP in the local capital Lucknow.
The majority of victims died when their homes collapsed, while
lightning claimed 75 lives in the northern state, he said.
“The monsoon fury has affected 1.29 million people. A total of 3,173
villages are affected while 674 villages have been totally marooned,”
Tandon said.
Heavy rains had weakened levees and dam walls triggering more worries
for flood control officials.
Further downstream in eastern Bihar state, 700,000 people have been
displaced by flood waters carried down the Himalayas from neighbouring
Nepal, government officers told PTI.
LUCKNOW, Friday, AFP |
