Snakes enter homes, increasing South Asia flood torment

Reuters
Friday, August 24, 2007; 5:12 AM

BHUBANESWAR, India (Reuters) - Hundreds of snakes, forced out of their pits by flood waters, have entered villagers' homes in eastern India creating panic and adding to the torment caused by monsoon flooding, officials said on Friday.

Around 1,850 people have been killed -- scores of them due to snake bites -- since July when swollen rivers burst their banks, inundating huge areas in eastern India and Bangladesh.

The others have been killed by drowning, diarrhea and in house collapses.

In India's impoverished state of Orissa, poisonous snakes like kraits and cobras slithered into homes across dozens of villages in Balasore district after nearby forest areas were inundated, forcing villagers to flee with their cattle.

"We might survive the floods but there are numerous snakes crawling all over the place," said Bijoy Pradhan, a villager who fled his home to dry land, on Friday.

Two children died from snake bites overnight in the area as close to a million people remained marooned across the state.

Authorities in Orissa said they were also battling an outbreak of diarrhea that has killed six children since Thursday.

Millions of people are living in miserable conditions across eastern India, drinking polluted water as taps and wells have been submerged by flood waters, officials said.

ENDLESS MISERY

In Bihar state, one of India's poorest and most badly governed areas, authorities found 19 more bodies since Thursday, pushing the death toll to 420 since floods started in mid-July.

Authorities used loudspeakers to order villagers to evacuate homes in Muzaffarpur district as swelling rivers breached mud embankments in many places.

Angry villagers in Samastipur district stopped a train, fearing its movement could damage a weak embankment along the track, and assaulted officials who tried to stop them, witnesses and officials said.

"We are very afraid of more floods," said Kalavati Devi, a flood victim, justifying stopping the train.

In neighboring West Bengal state, two children drowned as fresh flooding forced thousands of people into relief camps.

Across the border in Bangladesh, hundreds have died over the past few weeks due to massive flooding, with thousands of people suffering from diarrhea.

Monsoon flooding occurs in the region each year but this year's particularly heavy rainfall has led to some experts blaming climate change as one possible cause.