India struggles to fight floods

Indian villagers ferry salvaged household goods on a raft through floodwaters at Kamalpur in Kamrup district some 35km from Guwahati, the capital of Assam yesterday. India struggled to contain floods which have claimed at least 73 lives since the onset of the monsoon in mid-June. PHOTO: AFP

Six people drowned Thursday in the northeastern state of Assam in separate incidents as their wooden row boats were swept away in the Brahmaputra river which is flowing dangerously high, a police spokesman said.

"In some places, the Brahmaputra river is flowing more than 2.45 meters (eight feet) above the danger level," warned a bulletin flashed by the Central Water Commission.

Up to 1.2 million people are reported to be displaced in floods in northeastern India where the death toll reached 50.

Six new deaths were reported Friday from the eastern state of Bihar taking its flood death toll to 17, a state disaster control official said.

The official said four women drowned when their wooden row boat capsized in the swollen Saryaman River and that two villagers were swept away in the eastern Champaran district.

Six people were killed earlier this week when their vehicle was hit by a landslide and fell into a deep gorge in West Bengal state, police said.

India last year recorded more than 1,000 deaths from floods, which are triggered annually by monsoon rains and melting snows from the Himalayas.