India: Floods Kill 79 Dead, Two Million People Displaced

The state of Assam, bordering Bhutan and Bangladesh, has been most affected by heavy rains that caused flooding in the Brahmaputra River. The weather also hit the states of Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur, but are making dead.

The local government of Assam, 26 of 27 districts were affected by the floods that destroyed thousands of informal settlements, cut off roads and submerged farmland.

The statement said about 2.2 million people were displaced and more than 500,000 people were sheltered in makeshift camps.

"We opened temporary accommodation camps for the displaced, but many of them had to seek shelter under tarpaulins," he told AFP the Health Minister of Assam, Biswa Sarma.

According to authorities, more than 70% of the national animal of Kaziranga, famous for its tigers, one-horned rhinoceros and elephants, was flooded. "The animals are trying to find safer places," said the AFP park ranger, Sanjib Bora.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress Party President at the head of the governing coalition, Sonia Gandhi, flew over the area on Monday July 2 and inspected the work of rescue teams.

The monsoon, which runs through the Indian subcontinent from June to September, is crucial to millions of farmers, but it causes each year of deadly floods.