India floods strand hundreds of thousands

Source: AP

About 1.2 million people have been left homeless and scores killed in the impoverished state of Bihar in the two weeks since the monsoon-swollen Kosi river in neighboring Nepal burst its banks, dramatically changing course and spilling billions of gallons (liters) of water into the plains of northern India.

Authorities say hundreds of thousands remain stranded after their homes and villages were inundated, clinging to the roofs of houses or whatever dry speck of land they can find. An estimated 3 million residents of Bihar have been affected.

But as the waters rushed in and flooded more than 750 villages and towns, many were unable to escape. By Saturday, some 330,000 people had been rescued, said Prataya Amrit, secretary of the state's disaster management department. Many of them were being housed in state-run relief camps.

But while rescue efforts were finally picking up steam, officials warned the flooding was spreading to new areas and the high waters would last for months.
Authorities say the breach in the Kosi embankment is more than a mile wide and growing every day, and they will not be able to fix it until late November, when the monsoon ends and the torrent begins to subside.

Read more: http://www.pr-inside.com/india-floods-strand-hundreds-of-thousands-r780957.htm

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Hundreds of thousands still stranded waiting to be rescued after two weeks. And the situation is only going to stay the same or get worse over the next three months as the rain keeps pouring down on them.