Heavy rainfall in several parts of India triggers floods, at least 11 dead

Children play in the rain in Mumbai, India, June 20, 2024. REUTERS

Heavy rain continued to trigger flood and landslides in India's north and north-east, killing at least 11 people and affecting hundreds of thousands, officials from two affected states said on Tuesday.

In India's most populous state of Uttar Pradesh, which has been hit by torrential rain, nine people died in rain-related incidents in the last 24 hours, an official bulletin said.

Two people died on Monday in the north-eastern state of Assam, which has been hit by a second wave of flooding since June 16, affecting more than 600,000 people in 19 districts, and displacing more than 8,000, a state disaster management statement said.

Kaziranga National Park in Assam - home to nearly 2,200 one-horned rhinos, or two-thirds of their world population - is also under water, with more than half of its 233 camps flooded, drowning four hog deer, officials said.

"The flood water has now entered my house. The water has damaged my paddy and crops. I have a family of five and I have to take shelter here. If the situation worsens, I will lose my house," Faizul Islam, a local resident told news agency ANI, in which Reuters has a minority stake.

Visuals from ANI showed inundated fields and roads across Assam, as people moved precious belongings and furniture from their water-filled homes.

In the northeastern region of neighbouring Bangladesh, the flood situation was worsening rapidly due to continuous rain and upstream water flow from India, leaving tens of thousands of people marooned, officials said on Tuesday.

Authorities used loudspeakers in the south-eastern region of Chittagong to alert residents about the high risk of landslides, triggered by heavy rains, and offer help in evacuations, government official Abul Bashar Mohammed Fakruzzaman said.

India's north-east and Bangladesh have been ravaged by floods in the last two months, leaving millions stranded, with weather authorities predicting that the situation could worsen.

In Assam's neighbouring state of Arunachal Pradesh, which also borders China, incessant rains have forced the closure of schools in its capital Itanagar, till the end of this week, local officials said.

More rain is predicted for the region over the next three days, according to the country's weather office.

India's weather department issued warnings on Tuesday for heavy to extremely heavy rainfall across western, northern and north-eastern states for the rest of this week.