Flash floods kill 19 in India

Flash floods triggered by heavy rains during the weekend killed at least 10 people in north-eastern India and forced hundreds to flee their homes, officials said today.

Another nine people were killed and eight injured yesterday when they were struck by lightning in the state of West Bengal in eastern India, officials added.

Authorities have deployed the army and emergency teams to rescue people stranded in flooded areas in the east Indian state of Assam, said Bhumidhar Barman, an official with the Assam government.

“The situation has turned alarming yet again,” said Barman.

The lightning deaths were in the southern districts of West Midnapore, Bankura and Murshidabad, said senior police official Raj Kanojia. Most of those killed were farmers who were working in their fields when lightning struck them.

Recent monsoon rains submerged most of the region, killing more than 2,000 people across India and Bangladesh and displacing millions.

Monsoon rains usually hit South Asia from June to September. They are vital to farmers whose crops feed hundreds of millions of people, but also deadly. This year’s rains have been especially dangerous, with more than twice as many people killed than during last year’s monsoon season.

Since the first floods in July, 60 people have died in Assam, Barman said.

On Saturday, a boat on the Barapani river in central Assam carrying a man named Rafiqul Islam and his wife and two daughters capsized, killing the mother and daughters, said Deepa Das, a state official. Islam survived, said Das.

Details about the other seven deaths were not known.