Floods bring chaos to India and Pakistan

An Indian villager carries his bicycle as he wades through a flooded area near Delanga village in Orissa's Puri district, some 35 kilometres from Bhubaneswar yesterday. Photo: AFP

More than a million people have been displaced and at least 16 killed as floods in India's Orissa state submerged entire villages, officials said yesterday.
Heavy monsoon rains submerged about 2,600 villages across 19 districts.
Meanwhile more rain has been forecast in Pakistan's southern Sindh province where, officials say, 199 people have died over the last two weeks.
Millions have been affected by floods there and the UN has begun relief work.
The United Nations Children's Fund, Unicef, said up to 2.5 million children had also been affected by the rains.
One official said children and families, many of them still recovering from last year's devastating floods, are in urgent need of help before the situation worsens.
Almost one million houses have been destroyed or damaged and floods have affected nearly 4.2m acres of land, the UN says.
"The situation in Sindh is already serious and there will be more flooding and more problems because of these rains," Arif Mehmood, a meteorology official, is quoted as saying by the Reuters news agency.
Helicopter food drops
Officials in Orissa said at least 61,000 people had been evacuated to safety and relief and rescue operations had begun.
Several rivers, including the Mahanadi, are overflowing and flood waters have severed a number of key road links.
Roads at several places in Puri, Kendrapara, Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur, Sambalpur, Boudh and Sonepur districts had been affected.
"A navy ship from Vishakhapatnam with a helicopter and relief material is set to join the operation," Press Trust of India (PTI) quoted Special Relief Commissioner PK Mohapatra as saying.
He said a second helicopter was on standby to drop food and other essentials. Nearly 1,400 boats were also being used for relief and rescue.
Some areas had been cut off due to breaches in river banks and embankments and helicopters were the only way to reach food and water to people stranded there, Mr Mohapatra said.
Orissa's Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik took an aerial survey of the flooded areas.
"We are taking all measures to mitigate the sufferings of the people affected by flood," Mr Patnaik was quoted by television channel CNN-IBN as saying.
"After damage assessment we will also seek help from the central government," he said.
Many of those affected said they were still awaiting relief.
"There is no electricity, no cooking in our house for the last two days. No one has come to our rescue," the channel quoted Lata, a 62-year-old woman in Puri district, as saying.
The channel said she was staying with her grandchildren, refusing to vacate her home despite rising waters.