Monsoon Rains Kill Dozens in India, Bangladesh

Associated Press
Published: August 1,2016
Nearly 100 people have died in India after a week of monsoon rains has flooded several regions, stranding thousands in rural villages. Tens of thousands of have been uprooted from their homes in the states of Assam in the remote northeast and Bihar in the east.
Twenty-six deaths have been reported in Assam, where incessant downpours have damaged roads and snapped telephone cables in several districts, a government statement said.

Flood affected villagers take shelter on the elevated portion of a submerged road in Morigaon district, east of Gauhati, northeastern Assam state, India, Sunday, July 31,2016. A week of heavy rain has killed dozens of people and uprooted tens of thousands of others from their homes. Floods are an annual occurrence in Assam and many parts of India during the June-September monsoon season.
((AP Photo/Anupam Nath))

Home Minister Rajnath Singh flew over the worst-hit areas Saturday and said the floods were "very serious."
Twenty-six deaths also have been reported in Bihar due to drowning and home collapses in 10 districts bordering Nepal. At least nine people were killed when a three-story building collapsed in a Mumbai suburb on Sunday, Thanhien News reported, and officials said 32 people were killed by lightning a day earlier in India's eastern state of Odisha.
The Bihar state government was running more than 350 relief camps providing food and other necessities to the flood victims. The federal government-run National Disaster Response Force was helping with relief efforts.
Lightning also killed 15 people in Bangladesh in the past two days, disaster management officials in Dhaka told Thanhnien News on Sunday, adding to a death toll of 17 in flooding on Saturday. About 300 people have died from lightning in Bangladesh so far this year.
Vast tracts of Assam's Kaziranga National Park, home to the rare one-horned rhino, and another wildlife reserve were under water, the state government said in a statement. Forest officials found the remains of six rhinos drowned by floodwaters in Kaziranga, the statement said. Another rhino was killed in another national reserve in the state.
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The Brahmaputra River and its tributaries were overflowing their banks in 18 of Assam's districts, washing away roads and highways and toppling power pylons. Floodwaters entered homes in at least 14 districts, leading to house collapses.
Floods are an annual occurrence in Assam and many parts of India during the June-September monsoon season.
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