Half a million stranded by Indian floods
Two weeks after the monsoon-swollen Kosi river from Nepal breached flood defences and changed course to cut across the Indian state of Bihar, emergency workers were still struggling with the scale of the disaster.
Tens of thousands of survivors have packed overcrowded relief camps, where tensions are growing over inadequate emergency supplies. More than half a million people have been evacuated from the disaster zone, with at least another 500,000 still without food or water, said disaster management officials. The army said it was sending thousands more troops to the state, which is one of India’s poorest areas.
About 80 people are confirmed to have died in the flooding, said officials in Patna, the state capital of Bihar, but the real toll is expected to be much higher with many victims simply washed away. In the town of Madhepura, 150 kilometres east of Patna, and one of the worst-hit areas, most land was under a metre of water.
In the town, local resident Susheela Shah, 74, said she had lost everything. “It was up to my waist when we finally left our house and now it would be up to my neck. We have nothing left.”
