Monsoon floods sweep through 2,000 villages

Raging floodwaters fed by monsoon rains have inundated more than 2,000 villages in north-east India, sweeping away homes and leaving hundreds of thousands of people marooned yesterday. At least 27 people were killed, but the toll was expected to rise.

The air force was delivering food packages to people huddled on patches of dry land with cattle and wild elephants. Rescuers were dropped by helicopter into affected areas to help the stranded, but rain was complicating operations.

About one million people have had to evacuate homes as floods from the swollen Brahmaputra River swamped 2,084 villages.

AP