Floods kill 40, damage crops
FLOODS brought by heavy rains and overflowing rivers across large swathes of western and southern India have killed at least 40 people since Wednesday and damaged rice, cotton and other crops, officials said.
The worst affected state was Telangana, where excessive unseasonal rainfall on Wednesday and yesterday flooded its capital Hyderabad, home to major IT companies and start- ups such as Microsoft, Accenture, Amazon and TCS.
In Telangana 30 people died, while in neighbouring western state of Maharashtra 10 people were killed because of wall collapses, electrocution and drowning in overflowing streams, officials from the two states said yesterday. Authorities in Hyderabad declared a holiday yesterday and asked residents to stay indoors.
A few districts in Maharashtra state received more than 100mm rainfall in the last 24 hours and the state, including its capital Mumbai, is likely to receive heavy to very heavy rainfall yesterday and today, the India Meteorological Department said in its daily forecast.