Torrential rains send monsoon death toll rising

TORRENTIAL overnight rains compounded the misery of two million marooned Indian villagers, as the death toll from floods across south Asia rose to at least 289.

Helicopters dropped food and the army helped civil authorities carry out rescue operations.

They also brought aid to hundreds of thousands of people who had escaped to high ground near national highways and railway tracks in India’s Uttar Pradesh and Bihar states last week.