Floods ravage southern India
Pastor Dale Morgan
Floods ravage southern India*
Reuters
Saturday, August 5, 2006; 3:56 AM
HYDERABAD, India (Reuters) - Torrential rains and flooding ravaged large
areas of eastern and southern India on Saturday, with troops airlifting
supplies and evacuating thousands of people to higher ground, officials
said.
In the state of Andhra Pradesh, the death toll from days of monsoon
storms rose to 50, with 10 people feared dead after being buried by a
landslide in the village of Kodipunjavalasa, 590 km (370 miles)
northeast of the state capital, Hyderabad.
Three people died in Hyderabad as their houses collapsed early on
Saturday. Over 700 villages were reported to be under water, and three
provincial airports had been closed.
Helicopters were searching for 60 fishermen who went to sea on Wednesday
despite being warned of expected strong winds.
Debabratha Kanta, the state's disaster management commissioner, said
that more than 100,000 had been made homeless.
In neighboring Orissa state, on the eastern seaboard, heavy rains
continued for a fifth day, during which 36 people have been killed by
flash floods and lightning strikes, officials said.
Rivers across the region were at or nearing danger levels, and road and
rail networks along the east coast were badly hit with heavy downpours
expected for at least another 24 hours.
In the central state of Chhattisgarh, troops flew food to more than
100,000 tribal people cut off by rising water levels. Over 6,000 people
were airlifted to safety in the state's Dantewada district, badly hit by
a Maoist insurgency.
Sixty villages in the district were totally submerged with people
reported to have climbed on to roof tops.
"Nearly 100,000 people in Dantewada have been affected," an official
said. "Marooned people have not received any food and drinking water for
past three days."