30 Jun 2012

FLooding follows monsoon rain

6:45 am on 30 June 2012

An estimated one million people in north-eastern India have been forced to flee their homes after extensive flooding.

Officials in Assam say the floods, caused by heavy monsoon rain, are the worst for more than a decade. They began last weekend.

So far, 27 people have died. Twenty one of Assam's 27 districts are affected.

Agriculture Minister Nilamoni Sen Deka said the Brahmaputra river was overflowing its banks in many places.

He said an estimated 900,000 people had been displaced from their homes due to the flooding.

Security forces have been deployed to drop emergency food supplies from the air.