500 Feared Dead as River Bursts Dam and Floods Indian Town

A river fed by torrential rains burst a dike and swept into a remote town in southwestern India on Tuesday. Police said that about 500 people are feared dead and thousands of homes have been destroyed.

Stormy weather lashed several other parts of India, where at least 59 people were feared killed in floods or house collapses, news reports said.

Police said Mohad, a community of 12,000 in the state of Maharashtra, about 530 miles south of New Delhi, was submerged when the waters of the Wardha River poured through an embankment, sweeping away flimsy mud-and-clay tile houses.

Three-fourths of the town was flooded and about 2,000 houses were destroyed, a police official said in Bombay, the state capital. The exact toll was not known because the deluge cut communications.

Most of India has been hit by heavy rains since the summer monsoon began last month. Heavy rains are expected to continue until late August when the monsoon ends.