More than 100 people have been killed, most of them in India's eastern states, during heavy rains and floods over the past week, officials said Monday. More than 4 million people in 10,000 villages were affected in the states of West Bengal, Orissa and Manipur after cyclone Komen struck the region on Thursday, dpa reported. Forty-eight people were killed in the worst-hit Bengal region, where 214,000 people had taken shelter in relief camps, Home Ministry officials said. Many of the deaths were due to drowning, collapsed masonry, lightning strikes and electrocution. The incessant rains left large swathes of the state capital Kolkata and 12 districts submerged in water. In the remote north-eastern state of Manipur bordering Myanmar, 20 people died when a landslide swept away 12 village homes following rains on Saturday. Five more people died in the Orissa state, where seven districts were hit by heavy rains. Another 28 flood-related deaths were reported in the northern state of Rajasthan in the recent days. Weather officials have predicted heavy rains in eastern and central India over the next few days. India's monsoon rains usually hit between June and September, and are vital for agriculture but also cause hundreds of deaths each year. -- SPA 17:22 LOCAL TIME 14:22 GMT تغريد
