Twenty more people were killed, taking to 46 the death toll from floods that have destroyed tens of thousands of homes in the eastern Indian state of Orissa, officials said on Wednesday.
The toll rose by 20 since the weekend as the Indian navy deployed men and boats in Orissa, where more than 3,5-million people have been affected by the flooding and 370 000 have had to be evacuated so far, state officials said.
Orissa’s revenue secretary, GVV Sharma, supervising rescue operations said the situation was grim in the impoverished coastal state.
“Surging waters from Mahanadi River have inundated 5 722 villages across 18 of Orissa’s 30 districts,” he said in state capital, Bhubaneswar.
“Flood waters have also damaged 127 000 houses so far,” he added.
The state government, in a letter to the federal authorities, however, said four million people were affected and that more than 1 000 villages were completely under flood water.
Orissa’s mounting death toll pushes up flood-related casualties nationwide to at least 176 since Saturday. — AFP