Floods devastate India's northeast, killing more than 100

New Delhi (dpa) - The death toll from devastating floods in India's northeast touched 114 Thursday with the deaths of six people in landslides triggered by heavy rains in Assam state, news reports said.

So far 50 people have died in the state of Assam, 59 in Bihar and 5 in Arunachal Pradesh, UNI news agency reported. Millions of villagers in the three states are marooned without food and water.

The army and air force have been brought in to help with rescue operations and have been dropping essential supplies by air.

The landslide deaths in Assam occurred Wednesday night in and around the state capital Guwahati. Large parts of the city were flooded. Two people died in flooded Silchar and Nagaon districts, taking the death toll in the state to 50.

Several villages in Bihar were cut off and relief camps set up by the government were crowded. In a town in Darbhanga district, 600 children have been stranded in a school for 5 days, while 34 prisoners escaped from a flooded jail.

Authorities in all three states, including Arunachal Pradesh where the flood waters were said to be receding, were worried about the outbreak of waterborne diseases like cholera. There were also reports of people dying of snakebites. dpa su blg