India flood crisis 'deteriorates'

The flood situation in India's eastern states of Orissa, West Bengal and Jharkhand continues to deteriorate, officials say.

But they say that there has been some improvement in the worst affected state of Assam in the country's north-east.

More than eight million people have been affected by severe floods and thousands have been displaced.

In Orissa officials say they are battling to get food to marooned people in the north of the state.

Many states in the north-east and east of India have been hit hard by flooding.

The army has been deployed in the state of Jharkhand - where nearly two and half million people have been affected by torrential rain - the heaviest for six decades, according to officials.

Five people have died in the wet weather in West Bengal and four in Orissa, officials said.

"We have not been able to reach thousands of people encircled by flood waters on all sides as road links have been badly damaged and the swirling water of the rivers is making the movement of boats difficult," a senior official engaged in the Orissa relief operation told the BBC.


The district of Lakhimpur in Assam is one of the worst hit

Nearly 40,000 people in the state's low lying areas have been evacuated to safer places.

The Orissa government started air-dropping food to inaccessible areas on Thursday morning.

Officials said nearly a million people in four Orissa districts - Mayurbhanj, Balasore, Bhadrak and Jajpur - have been affected by the floods.

More than half a million people have been affected in Balasore alone, officials said, and a total of 850 villages have been cut off.

Consolation

Meanwhile three army columns were rushed to West Bengal's West and East Midnapore districts after more than 700mm rainfall lashed the two districts over the past three days.

A total of two million people have been affected by the floods in these two districts as the Subarnarekha River continued to rise, leaving nearly 300,000 people marooned.

The BBC's north-east India correspondent, Subir Bhaumik, says that there was some consolation for the authorities in Assam, where there are signs that heavy rainfall is abating.

But our correspondent says that the worst affected districts of Lakhimpur and Dhemaji districts remain cut off from the rest of the state following a huge breach of national highway number 52.

Officials say that two and half million people have been affected by the floods in Assam and 12 have died.

news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7464375.stm







Villages turn islands, lakhs homeless


Floods continued to wreak havoc in three eastern states and Assam on Thursday.

In Orissa, an estimated 10 lakh people have so far been affected by floods while in West Bengal lakhs of villagers have been stranded and about 55,000 rescued and placed in 150 relief camps. In Jharkhand, about 3,000 people have been affected by nature's fury.

In Assam 22 people were killed in two districts bordering Arunachal Pradesh due to excessive release of water from a hydro electric project in Arunachal.

The flood situation in north Orissa remained grave on Thursday with the Subernarekha, Budhabalanga, Baitarani and Jalaka rivers inundating large areas in the districts of Balasore, Bhadrak, Mayurbhanj and Jajpur. A portion of National Highway 60 near Rupsa in Balasore district has been swept away, cutting off the road to Bhubaneswar and Kolkata. The death toll however remained at four.

In Narayangar in Bengal's Midnapore West district, 85-year-old Kulebala Maity took shelter on a tree-top till she was rescued by armymen on Thursday afternoon.

78-year-old Jarnali Bera was trapped in roof top when flood water washed away their house in Amedein village in Midnapore West.

Though Maity and Bera were rescued on Thursday morning, there are lakhs of other villagers who are still stranded in flood waters in Midnapore East and West districts.

In Jharkhand's East Singhbhum and Seraikela-Kharsawan districts, more than 3,000 families have been rendered homeless in flash floods following a record 363.07 mm rainfall on Wednesday. Two persons died while over a dozen others survived from drowning in the flood waters. In Jamshedpur, two more gharials escaped from their enclosure in the Tata Zoo. One had reportedly been swept away by the floods into the swelling Subernarekha river on Wednesday.

hindustantimes.com/storypage/storypage.aspx?id=20ae94e2-c40e-40c5-856c-b2cbdb06b1b6&&Headline=Villages+turn+islands%2c+lakhs+homeless








Rains wreak havoc in eastern India, army called out

Kolkata-Bhubaneswar (PTI): Rains wreaked havoc in most parts of eastern India as army troops were on wednesday rushed to two flood-hit districts in West Bengal while Orissa alerted the Air Force and Jharkhand sought army help to tackle the situation that has affected nearly 25 lakh people.

Five persons died in West Bengal and four in Orissa due to the torrential rains, officials said. Three army columns were rushed to West Bengal's West and East Midnapore districts as an IAF helicopter made an aerial survey of the affected areas, state Finance Minister Ashim Dasgupta said.

If necessary, food would be airdropped from tomorrow in the two districts that have registered a record 700 mm rainfall in the past three days, he said, adding the situation has been compounded by 3.50 lakh cusecs discharge from the Chandil-Galudi reservoir in adjoining Jharkhand.

In Orissa, the state government alerted the Air Force for relief and rescue operations. Describing the situation in four districts, particularly in Balasore as "grim", Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Manmohan Samal said nearly 1.5 lakh people have been affected due to the flash floods caused by torrential rains.

The steel city of Jamshedpur recorded 338.1 mm of rainfall -- the heaviest in the past six decades -- since on Tuesday.

In the northeastern state of Assam, the situation showed some signs of improvement with cessation of rain even as the worst hit Lakhimpur, where 22 people have perished, and Dhemaji districts remained cut off following the breach of National Highway 52.

hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/000200806181964.htm







Rains disrupt life in Jamshedpur

Jamshedpur (PTI): Torrential rains, the highest in a decade, lashing the Steel City and its surrounding areas in Jharkhand, disrupted life for the third day on Wednesday.

Met office sources said a record 338.1 mm rainfall was recorded here since Tuesday morning.

Railway services came to a grinding halt due to the rains, Railway sources said. Most of the trains passing through Tatanagar were either cancelled or diverted.

The police and fire-brigade personnel were kept on high alert and executive magistrates asked to watch the situation which might worsen if the rains continued, East Singhbhum deputy commissioner Ravindra Agarwal told PTI.

Waterlogging was reported from low lying areas and boats were used to evacuate people, he said.

"We have shifted about 400 people to safer places but some people in Kadma and Mango are still stranded on roof-tops," Agarwal said.

There was, however, no report of any casualty, he said.

Over 100 families in Jugsalai, Bagbera, Shastrinagar, Azadnagar, Daiguttu were affected as water gushed into the areas from Kharkhai river.

Road traffic in several areas, including Bistupur, Jugsalai were disrupted due to water-logging.

The boundary wall of an automobile factory at Adityapur industrial area collapsed last night washing away several semi-finished equipment, including gas cylinders and huge quantity of hydraulic oil.

While some schools in the steel city were closed due to waterlogging, attendance in offices was thin.

hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/004200806181521.htm