Worst floods in 30 years in Eastern India!!

Recent two heavy monsoon spells in the state of Orissa has disrupted the lives of more than five million people after submerging over 3,000 villages in the impoverished coastal state. More than 9,000 mud houses in the state have collapsed.  The death toll from severe flooding in the eastern Indian state of Orissa has risen to 79 with an estimated five million people affected. Orissa, one of India’s poorest regions located on the Bay of Bengal coast, is prone to natural disaster especially cyclones.

“This is the worst flooding I have experienced in my life,”

Tells Ramcharitra Yadav, a 60-year-old farmer, who waded about half a mile through neck-deep water to a relief camp because there weren’t any government rescue boats in his village.

• Floods aim Orissa – 79 dead!

• Repeat of 1980 and 1999?

People have been affected by floods in many parts of India as post-monsoon torrential rains lash Orissa, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar states. In neighbouring Bihar state, authorities have sounded a flood alert in eight districts, including the capital, Patna, after heavy rains led to a rise in the water levels on Ganges and Sone rivers.

A super cyclone in 1999 hit 12 districts, while major floods in 1980 left 13 districts inundated. Government officials say the current floods have hit a much larger area. This year the south-west monsoon has taken some 335 lives across India.