S Asia floods toll nears 1,300

Heavy monsoon rains lashed New Delhi yesterday, inundating roads and piling on misery for commuters in the chaotic Indian capital, as the death toll from the annual deluge across South Asia rose to nearly 1,300.

The monsoon is vital to the densely populated region, revitalising land and waterways amid scorching summers. But it also causes widespread death and destruction.

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In New Delhi, commuters battled through knee-deep waters and cars and buses were submerged as torrential rains added to traffic woes in the city of 20 million.

At a museum in Jaipur in the mostly desert state of Rajasthan, staff told AFP how they were forced to smash open a glass display case containing a 2,300 year-old Egyptian mummy in order to save it from rainwater flooding the ground floor.

The torrid conditions in recent days also hit India's northern and eastern states.  Across India, 847 people have died this season, the home ministry said.

In India's poorest state Bihar, eight million people have been hit by the floods, with thousands of displaced people sleeping on embankments and highways amid a shortage of relief camps.

This year's rains have also come in the wake of the economic devastation wrought by the coronavirus pandemic, with the loss of crops across flood-affected areas a further blow to farmers and rural communities.

In Bangladesh, 226 people have died so far with 40 percent of the country underwater after torrential rain caused rivers to burst their banks and inundate villages. More than six million people have had their homes damaged by the floods, and tens of thousands of villagers remain in shelters, an official from Bangladesh's disaster management ministry told AFP.

In Nepal, 218 people have died and 69 are missing from landslides and floods since mid-June when the monsoon began.

In the latest incident early yesterday, six bodies were recovered and 11 people were missing after a flood swept away a remote settlement in a western district, an official said.

In China, floods in mountainous southwest region have washed away roads and forced tens of thousands from their homes, with authorities warning yesterday the giant Three Gorges Dam was facing the largest flood peak in its history.