Death Toll at 282 in North India as Floodwaters Recede

Floodwaters started to recede Wednesday in northern India, and the government said at least 282 people have died in the week of torrential rains.

Indian newspapers put the death toll at 350.

Hundreds of people remained marooned in villages and towns in the northern state of Punjab. The government feared the stagnant muddy water could cause outbreaks of diarrhea and cholera.

At least 1,500 villages in Punjab were under water, said J.N. Srivastava, an official at the Flood Control Center in Chandigarh, the joint capital of Punjab and Haryana states. At least 70,000 people have been evacuated from villages in boats and helicopters, he said.

The government said that 282 people in Punjab and three neighboring states have died during the floods, caused by rain-swollen rivers bursting their banks.

In the flooded areas in central Punjab, where at least 130 people have died, hundreds of people crowded onto small islands of high land in villages along the Sutlej River.

“My entire family is perched on a tree,” said Tara Singh, a resident of the village of Kasabab. “I have been moving from place to place for the past two days to get a boat, but all in vain.”