Flash floods: At least 150 dead in Rajasthan

INDIA: At least 150 bodies have been recovered since last week following flash floods caused by heavy monsoon rains in India's desert state of Rajasthan, officials said Monday.

"In 11 districts of Rajasthan 150 bodies have been recovered so far," state public works minister Rajendra Singh Rathore told AFP.

The toll has risen sharply since Sunday as rescue workers continue to find more bodies as flood waters fell in the normally drought-prone area, where about 100 people were still missing.

The majority of the flood-related deaths occurred in Barmer district, with local police chief N.R.K. Reddy saying the toll was expected to rise.

The district, which experienced unusually heavy rains in the last 10 days, is near the border with Pakistan, or about 887 kilometres (549 miles) west of the Indian capital New Delhi. In more than a dozen villages pools of water reached depths of 18 metres (30 feet), leading state officials to ask the central government to send a task force to examine how to help drain the water.

As many as 47,000 animal carcasses have been found raising fears of water-borne disease in the region, Rathore said.

Earlier this month, hundreds were killed and more than 10 million people in four states were affected by floods caused by monsoon rains that sweep India from June to September and are crucial for the farm-dependent economy. Western Gujarat state faced the brunt with its diamond-polishing hub of Surat remaining under water for five days.

Barmer, Monday, AFP