Almost 300 feared dead in South Asia floods

Heavy overnight rains triggered fresh flooding in eastern India, raising fears of an epidemic as the death toll from floods in…

Heavy overnight rains triggered fresh flooding in eastern India, raising fears of an epidemic as the death toll from floods in India, Nepal and Bangladesh neared 300.

Swollen rivers that criss-cross the densely populated region where the three countries come together forced millions from their homes. Helicopters and boats plucked thousands of people from swirling floodwaters.

"The situation has become critical in the worst ever flood in Assam in recent years," the chief minister of India's northeastern Assan state, Tarun Gogoi said.

More than half the tea and oil-rich state was under water and millions of homeless people had taken refuge on raised highways and higher ground, Gogoi said, speaking from the state capital Dispur.

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All the region's rivers, including the main Brahmaputra, were overflowing their banks, flood control officials said.

Infrastructure and communications remained disrupted in 18 of Assam's 23 districts and railway lines were damaged by gushing waters. Power and phone lines were washed away.

A Nepali government official said overflowing rivers had begun to recede, but the Himalayan kingdom faced the threat of an outbreak of cholera and other diseases as massive floods polluted drinking water.