July 10, 2003	Thursday	Jumadi-ul-Awwal 9,1424

GUWAHATI, (India) July 9: The death toll from flooding in India, Bangladesh and Nepal has risen to 112, with more than 1.5 million people displaced, officials said Wednesday.

While the worst of the floods in India are in the northeastern states, police said they had pulled 20 bodies from the rubble of a landslide Tuesday in eastern West Bengal state’s Darjeeling hill region.

West Bengal Public Works Development Minister Amar Chowdhury said that more than 50,000 people were left homeless when floodwaters submerged 18 tea gardens and a number of villages near Jalpaiguri town at the base of the Darjeeling hills.

In flooded northeastern Assam state, another two people drowned overnight when their boats capsized in separate incidents while trying to escape floodwaters, police said.

These deaths bring to 20 the number of people killed in flooding in Assam and the adjoining states of Meghalaya and Tripura.

“Up to 1.5 million people in Assam have been hit by the floods spread over 19 of the state’s 24 districts so far,” Assam’s Revenue Minister Mithias Tudu told AFP.

At least 10,000 people have also been displaced in the neighbouring state of Tripura.

An outbreak of malaria, Japanese encephalitis, and other water-borne diseases in flood-hit areas in Assam have claimed the lives of at least 75 people since the beginning of June.

Heavy monsoon rains have also triggered mudslides in various parts of Arunachal Pradesh state bordering China. Road links to the state capital Itanagar have been cut off for a week.

The floods have also taken a heavy toll on wildlife with at least a dozen endangered wild animals, including rhinos and elephants.

NEPAL: Eight people were killed by lightning while two others were swept away by floods, home ministry officials said on Wednesday.

Six of the deaths due to lightning were in the Jhapa district, and one each in the nearby Morang and Mahotari districts, all on Tuesday, an official said.

Two people were swept away by floodwaters in eastern Nepal and are feared dead, officials said.

The mudslides have blocked some roads, including the Prithivi highway which connects Kathmandu with Pokhra township.

BANGLADESH: In Bangladesh, where waters have been spreading from the flooded north to the low-lying heart of the country, the situation had stabilized Wednesday, according to the Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre.

While no official death toll has been provided for Bangladesh as a whole, the number of reported dead in weather-related incidents is 67, with many killed in landslides in the southeastern hill tracts late last month.—AFP