Rains, floods claim over 1,400 lives in India

NEW DELHI - More than 1,400 people have died so far in as many as 10 Indian states during this year's ongoing monsoon season, media reports quoted the National Emergency Response Centre (NERC) as saying on Monday.

NERC is a part of India's Ministry of Home, particularly tasked to estimate the damages suffered in natural calamities.

The most affected is said to be the southern state of Kerala where around 500 people have died, nearly 5.5 million severely affected, and nearly 1.5 million people rendered homeless who are staying in relief camps across the state, reported the Press Trust of India (PTI).

Besides, standing crops on over 57,024 hectares of land have been damaged in Kerala alone, it quoted the NERC as saying.

Rains and floods-related deaths have also been reported from northern state Uttar Pradesh where as many as 254 people died, 210 deaths in eastern West Bengal, 170 in southern Karnataka, 139 in southwestern Maharashtra, 52 in western Gujarat, 50 in northeastern Assam, 37 in northern Uttarakhand, 29 in eastern Odisha and 11 in northeastern Nagaland.

Nearly 50 people have been missing out of which 15 cases reported from Kerala, 14 from Uttar Pradesh, five in West Bengal, six in Uttarakhand and three in Karnataka.

Rains and floods are known to have hit 30 districts in Odisha, 26 districts in Maharashtra, 25 in Assam, 23 each in Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, 14 in Kerala, 13 in Uttarakhand, 11 each in Karnataka and Nagaland and 10 in Gujarat.

In north-eastern state Assam, 1.1 million people have borne the brunt of the rains and floods, which have also hit crops on 27,964 hectares of land. In West Bengal the deluge has hit 228,000 people and damaged crops on 48,552 hectares of land, said the figures released Monday.