Flood waters have inundated scores of villages in India's northeast, leaving nearly 500,000 people homeless, an official said Monday. At least one person has died in the floods, a 55-year-old man who drowned when his boat capsized in Assam state, said Mantu Thakuria, a police officer. It was the first death reported in the state since the rains began last Wednesday. Nearly 500,000 people have been displaced by the floods, which have affected 10 of the state's 27 districts, Assam's Revenue Minister Bhumidhar Barman told The Associated Press. They include nearly 100,000 people marooned on Majuli island in the Brahmaputra River.
