Heavy rain floods critical care unit at Indian hospital

HEAVY rain and floods have claimed at least 537 lives during the monsoon season in India.

All the deaths have happened in six of the country’s 29 states and 13 people are reported missing.

The western state of Maharashtra, where some districts have had up to 99.3mm of rainfall, suffered the highest number of fatalities with 139.

It was followed by 126 in Kerala, 116 in West Bengal, 70 in Uttar Pradesh, 52 in Gujarat and 34 in Assam.

Analysts say the actual number of deaths is much higher as data from other parts of the country has yet to be collated and in many areas, particularly rural ones, deaths are not reported.

The floods have affected millions of people, destroying homes and agricultural crop.

Hundreds of thousands of people have fled to safety in relief camps set up by the government.

The India meteorological department has predicted heavy rains for the next five days across different parts of the country.

The national disaster response force (NDRF) has carried out relief and rescue operations in all the flood-hit regions.

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In the eastern state of Assam, 600 NDRF personnel have been deployed in the affected areas.

In Delhi, more than 3,000 people living on the floodplains of the river Yamuna have been evacuated to higher ground.

The river has breached its danger mark and some bridges have been closed to the public.

Patients uploaded videos on social media of fish swimming in the intensive care unit of a government hospital in Patna, the capital of Bihar, after heavy downpours over the weekend.

Until now across the country, the rainfall has been at the lower end of the normal range in the first half of the season.

Some states in the northeast of India have had less rainfall than normal but have experienced floods that have caused disruption.