Helicopters and speed boats tried to reach nearly 570,000 stranded villagers Monday as the death toll due to heavy monsoon rains and flooding across India reached 119 in the past three days. Most of the casualties were reported from India's most populous northern state of Uttar Pradesh, where 70 people were killed by drowning, house collapses and electrocution over the weekend in Sitapur, Lakhimpur Kheri and Pilibhit districts, state police spokesman Surender Srivastav said Monday. At least 17 people have died, mostly in house collapses, since Friday in eastern Orissa state with incessant monsoon rains causing the Mahanadi river to breach its banks at several places, causing the worst monsoon flooding in the state in 26 years, said Ajit Kumar Tripathi, the chief secretary. Another 32 people died in the northern hilly state of Himachal Pradesh over the weekend, mostly buried by mudslides triggered by heavy rains, The Hindu newspaper said.
