Floods Ravage Parts of India and Vietnam

Torrential rains and floods in eastern India have killed at least 210 people in the last six days and have left nearly 15 million stranded, officials said Saturday.

In Vietnam, the death toll from the worst floods to hit the Mekong Delta in decades rose to 94 today, but water levels were expected to peak and then start to recede in the next few days. Most of the 94 people killed in the Mekong Delta floods have been children.

In India, Jyoti Basu, chief minister of West Bengal state, called the situation there “quite grave,” and said efforts would now focus on rescuing those stranded by the floods.

Indian officials said at least 210 people had died. The government could confirm only 148 deaths in West Bengal because it was still verifying reports from other districts.

Most of deaths occurred when the victims were swept away in the swirling flood waters. Others died when their mud-and-thatch homes collapsed, officials said.

Helicopters dropped food packets and pouches of drinking water in the worst affected areas. Soldiers were using boats to ferry people who had been left stranded on rooftops.

The floods swept away roads and railway tracks in many places, cutting off the flooded areas from the rest of the state and further hampering rescue work. Hundreds of trucks carrying food and supplies to India’s northeastern region were trapped en route.

In the Mekong Delta, more than half a million homes have been flooded, many to the rafters, and more than 150,000 people have left their homes, fleeing from the highest water levels in nearly 40 years.

A municipal official in Vietnam’s Tien Giang province said 12,000 households had been flooded there in recent days.