Monsoon floods leave at least 50 people dead

Bhubaneswar: Flood victims in eastern India took refuge on treetops as monsoon rains swamped homes and continued to spread misery among millions.

Swelling rivers continued to break through mud embankments in the country's east and northeast on Friday, killing at least 50 people in the past ten days and displacing more than three million.

Food packets

Air force helicopters dropped food packets in the eastern state of Orissa, as hundreds of villagers climbed trees, hoping to be rescued as their homes got washed away, officials said.

"I have seen hundreds of people living on trees and pleading to be rescued," Jayanarayan Mohanty, a community leader, said.

In the eastern city of Jamshedpur, three alligators and a crocodile slipped out of a zoo after heavy rains flooded the park, officials said. The crocodile was later caught, but a park official said the missing alligators were a danger to the people.

Heavy monsoon rains also had an impact on coal mining in eastern Jharkhand state, with production at the state-run Central Coalfield Limited down by over 50 per cent.

Further to the northeast, in Assam state, more than 350,000 people had taken shelter in government camps to escape from rising waters, the government said earlier this week, before flood waters started receding on Wednesday.

Prices of essential commodities have shot up across the region.