Floods in India Leave 56 Dead

Heavy downpours sent rivers over their banks in southern India, killing at least 56 people and forcing the evacuation of thousands, authorities said Wednesday.

Helicopters plucked people from danger in parts of Andhra Pradesh state and delivered thousands of tons of food, medicine and blankets to camps for the displaced. Boats rescued hundreds of others.

The rains flooded railroad tracks and major highways along the coast, marooning hundreds of trucks, buses and cars, said disaster relief official Shashank Goel in Hyderabad, the capital of Andhra Pradesh.

Relief workers evacuated more than 140,000 residents of low-lying villages to 465 relief camps set up in government buildings and schools on higher ground, Goel said.

Officials said at least 50 people had been killed when rain and strong winds flattened homes, knocked down power lines and uprooted trees. Six people died when their homes in coastal districts collapsed.

The Godavari and Krishna rivers breached their banks in several places, demolishing more than 77,000 homes, damaging 7,800 homes and inundating farms, Goel said.

In Bangladesh, a tropical depression churned through the Bay of Bengal and pushed walls of water onto the country’s coast, forcing thousands to flee.

At least 16 fishermen died when three boats capsized, the Janakantha newspaper said. ATN Bangla TV said 200 fishing boats were missing.