Floods Leave Thousands Homeless in India's Assam
Date: 06-Jun-06
Country: INDIA
Low-lying areas of the oil-rich and tea growing region were under water following two days of torrential rains, with the Dhemaji district, 300 km (185 miles) east of the state's main city, Guwahati, worst hit.
"Some 15,000 people have moved to raised ground after floodwaters entered their temporary shelters," said Ananda Baruah, a senior flood control official.
In 2004, thousands of villagers were rehoused in makeshift homes after severe flooding killed about 200 people and made more than 12 million homeless.
Many are still living in the shelters, unable to go back home to land ruined by erosion and siltation during the floods. Most work as day labourers.
Most years, floods wreak havoc in the state, leaving a trail of destruction and killing hundreds of people. But there was no flooding last year.
The annual monsoon rains, vital for India's economy, arrived a week earlier than usual this year, and lightning strikes and trees felled by heavy storms have already killed scores of people.
Heavy rains have been lashing parts of the eastern state of Orissa where lightning has killed at least 19 people over the past two days.
More than 700 people have been killed by lightning in the past three years in the coastal state where cyclonic storms are common.
