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About
1 million people have been forced to
evacuate due to the floods.
Raging
floodwaters fed by monsoon rains have inundated more than 2,000 villages in
northeast India, killing at least 27 people and leaving hundreds of thousands
more marooned.
The
Indian air force was delivering food packages to people huddled on patches of
dry land along with cattle and wild elephants. Rescuers were being dropped by
helicopter into affected areas to help the stranded.
About
1 million people have been forced to evacuate as the floods from the swollen
Brahmaputra River one of Asia s largest swamped 2,084 villages across most of
Assam state, officials said.
Officials
have counted 27 people dead so far, but the toll is expected to be much higher
as unconfirmed casualty reports mount.
Telephone
lines were knocked out and some train services were canceled after their tracks
were swamped by mud. As the floods soaked the Kaziranga game reserve east of
Assam capital of Gauhati, motorists reported seeing a one-horned rhino fleeing
along a busy highway.
"We never thought the situation would
turn this grim when the monsoon-fed rivers swelled a week ago," said
Nilomoni Sen Deka, an Assam government minister.
Residents
of Majuli an 800-square-kilometer (310-square-mile) island in the middle of the
Brahmaputra River watched helplessly as the swirling, gray waters swallowed 50
villages and swept away their homes.
"We
are left with only the clothes we are wearing," said 60-year-old Puniram
Hazarika, one of about 75,000 island residents now camping in makeshift
shelters of bamboo sticks and plastic tarps on top of a mud embankment.
A
herd of 70 endangered Asiatic elephants, which usually avoid humans, were
grouped together nearby, Majuli island wildlife official Atul Das said.
"The jumbos have not caused any harm, but we are keeping a close
watch," he said.
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