CNN : Monsoon floods displace 19 million

Monsoon floods displace 19 million

CNN | August 4, 2007

LUCKNOW, India (AP) -- Havoc from monsoon rains killed another 12 people in India, including two children swept away by floods and a man attacked by a rhinoceros forced out of its inundated habitat, officials said Saturday.

Helicopters dropped food to hundreds of thousands of frightened villagers perched on rooftops.

Vital to farmers, the annual rains are a blessing and a curse for the subcontinent. At least 198 people have been killed in India and neighboring Bangladesh and 19 million driven from their homes in recent days, according to government figures.

The South Asian monsoon season runs from June to September as the rains work their way across the subcontinent. It's always dangerous -- last year more than 1,000 people died, most from drowning, landslides or house collapses.

This year, estimates of total deaths vary wildly from a few hundred to well over 1,000.

Two villagers were killed in a house collapse and two children were swept away by flood waters in several districts of India's northern Uttar Pradesh state. Another person died from a snake bite on a flooded road, said Surender Shrivastav, a state official.

Helicopters dropped food to nearly 2 million people in 2,200 villages cut off by flood waters in the worst-hit eastern parts of Uttar Pradesh, said Umesh Sinha, the state relief commissioner, adding that nearly 279,223 acres of paddy rice crops have been destroyed in the region.

On Friday, six people drowned in northeastern Assam state. One-horned rhinos straying from the state's Kaziranga National Park killed one person and injured two others, said state Revenue Minister Bhumidhar Barman.

Jehir Ali, 28, was riding a bicycle near the village of Gendheli when a rhino charged at him, said Dhiren Gogoi, a wildlife official.

"Ali fell down and was badly mauled by the adult rhino. He was shifted to a hospital where he died," Gogoi told The Associated Press.

Seventy percent of Kaziranga Park has been flooded by the Brahmaputra River, forcing out several rhinos.

"Two rhinos have entered villages in the area resulting in panic among the population," Diganta Barbaruah, another wildlife official, said.

With hundreds of villages submerged across the fertile plains that stretch along the southern edge of the Himalayas, people were taking refuge wherever they could.

Women and children were spotted screaming for help from treetops in Uttar Pradesh. In parts of the state, river levels rose so quickly that villagers had no time to save any belongings.

"The gush of water was so sudden we did not get the time to react," Vinod Kumar, a resident of a flooded village in Basti district, told Enadu TV.

One woman in Uttar Pradesh who identified herself only as Savitra said she had not "eaten anything for the last two days."

Health workers were fanning out across parts of Bangladesh and India to try to prevent the spread of waterborne diseases like diarrhea, typhoid and cholera.

In northwestern Bangladesh, farmer Rahmat Sheikh and his family were among 2,000 people who fled their flooded village for higher ground in the Sirajganj district.

"The floods have taken away all I had," said the 40-year-old Sheikh. "Rice paddies in the field, two cows and my house all are gone. I don't know how we will now survive."

Some 14 million people in India and 5 million in Bangladesh have been displaced or marooned by flooding, according to government figures. At least 144 people have died in India and 54 more in Bangladesh.

India's Meteorological Department said unusual monsoon patterns this year have led to heavier than normal rains.

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Reuters : Oxford residents evacuated as flood waters rise

Oxford residents evacuated as flood waters rise

By Paul Majendie | July 25, 2007

LONDON (Reuters) - The River Thames burst its banks on Wednesday, forcing the evacuation of hundreds of homes in the university city of Oxford in Britain's worst floods for 60 years.

About 350,000 people faced two weeks without running water and insurance companies said the bill could soar to 3 billion pounds ($6.2 billion).

Farmers say harvests have been badly hit and that farm animals in flood-hit areas could die unless water supplies are restored soon.

Visiting the worst-hit area in Gloucestershire, western England, Prime Minister Gordon Brown pledged more cash for stricken areas and more tankers and bottled water to ensure supplies.

Oxford became the new frontline when rivers feeding into the Thames spilled over into its streets, forcing police to evacuate 250 homes. Aerial pictures showed flood waters not far from some of the city's historic college buildings.

Heavy rain is expected overnight and Environment Agency officials warned that the river had not yet peaked.

As the flooding spread along the river, officials said Queen Elizabeth's residence at Windsor Castle was not threatened and no property flooding was expected in London -- although heavy storms could always cause flash flooding.

"There are six severe flood warnings in place. It looks as if we are going to get up to 20 millimeters (0.8 inch) of rain across the board tomorrow," an Environment Agency spokesman said.

COUNTING THE COST

The insurance bill for floods in June and July could hit 3 billion pounds, insurers say, sparking fears of price hikes.

Milk shortages hit some areas with flooded roads making collections from dairy farms impossible. The rain brought harvesting of barley and rapeseed to a halt in many regions.

One power substation in Oxford was closed as a precaution, after it was partially flooded at the weekend, but customers have not been cut off because supplies were re-routed. Sandbags were piled up to protect other substations in the area.

Economists say the floods will trim back economic growth and are likely to trigger a short-term spike in food prices, but the overall economy is likely to weather the storm in the long run.

One beneficiary of the bad weather was the airline industry. British Airways said seat bookings for long flights were up as holidaymakers escaped the British summer.

"We need to invest more in preventing floods," Brown told parliament. Less than a month into the job as Britain's new premier, he said everything had to be looked at from infrastructure and drainage to where utilities were located.

In a stark reference to how 21st century weather had changed, finance minister Alistair Darling said: "Climate change is not a passing trend.

"It is a reality we must factor into everything we do. If we do not, threats to our everyday life -- like the floods this week -- risk becoming common."

(Additional reporting by Simon Challis, Nigel Hunt, Daniel Fineren, Adrian Croft, Jason Neely and Matt Falloon)

© Reuters 2007. All rights reserved.