1,200 kill and millions left homeless in India, Bangladesh and Nepal floods

No more than 1,200 people have been killed and millions have been left homeless following devastating floods that have hit India, Bangladesh and Nepal, in one of the worst flooding disasters to have affected the region in years.

 International aid agencies said thousands of villages have been cut off by flooding with people being deprived of food and clean water for days.  

South Asia suffers from frequent flooding during the monsoon season, which lasts from June to September, but authorities have said this year's floods have been much worse.  In the eastern Indian state of Bihar, the death toll has risen to more than 500, the Straits Times reported, quoting disaster management officials. 

 The paper said the ongoing floods had so far affected 17 million people in India, with thousands sheltered in relief camps. Anirudh Kumar, a disaster management official in Patna, the capital of Bihar, a poor state known for its mass migration from rural areas to cities, said this year's farming had collapsed because of the floods, which will lead to a further rise in unemployment in the region.  In the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, reports said more than 100 people had died and 2.5 million have been affected. 

In Mumbai, authorities struggled to evacuate people living in the financial capital's low-lying areas as transport links were paralyzed and downpours led to water rising up to five feet in some parts of the city.  Weather officials are forecasting heavy rains to continue over the next 24 hours and have urged people to stay indoors.  

From Independent