Floods kill 45 in eastern India

NEW DELHI, Aug 11 (AFP): Flooding in eastern India has killed 45 people and displaced more than 300,000 in the past week, a senior official said Monday, adding that water levels were now gradually receding.

Residents have been sheltering in relief centres in Orissa since being evacuated from their homes when torrential monsoon rains flooded rivers in mainly northern districts of the state.

"As of today, 300 to 400 villages are still marooned with a population of about 310,000 (evacuated people) affected," said Pravat Ranjan Mohapatra, state deputy relief commissioner.

Mohapatra said 45 lives have been lost since the flooding hit last week, with 3.3 million people in total affected.

"The IMD (India Meteorological Department) is predicting good weather for the next few weeks. So we hope things will go back to normal in a day or two," he told AFP by phone from the state capital Bhubaneswar.