The death toll from heavy monsoon rains which have caused massive flooding in India's north-east has risen to more than 120, with six million forced to flee their homes, officials said Saturday. The weather office forecast that more rains during the next 24 hours would lash the region, which is suffering from its worst flooding in recent years.
Assam state has been hardest hit by the annual rains with the mighty Brahmaputra River overflowing its banks, while flooding has also struck the surrounding states of Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Meghalaya. "So far a total of 121 people have died in separate incidents in which 105 were drowned while trying to escape the gushing waters and 16 more were killed in landslides caused by heavy rains," an Assam government statement said.
An estimated six million people have been forced to leave their homes to escape the floodwaters and find higher ground, a separate Central Water Commission bulletin said. The monsoon, which sweeps across the subcontinent from June to September, is crucial for India's farmers but also claims many casualties from flooding every year. Assam state officials were struggling to cope with the huge number of people displaced by the flooding, with makeshift relief camps sheltering some of those forced to leave their homes.