Monsoon floods threaten India

LAHORIGHAT, India -- The flooded Brahmaputra River has cut a vicious swath through India's remote northeast, killing hundreds of people, leveling homes and leaving millions homeless.

Annual monsoon flooding has wreaked havoc across South Asia, killing more than 900 people in India, Bangladesh and Nepal since June and displacing or trapping about 25 million more.

Some of the most isolated victims are in Assam, along the rugged foothills of the Himalayas. At least 39 people have died and nearly a quarter of the Indian state's 26 million residents are now homeless.

After two weeks of destruction, the rains have slowed and the floodwaters have started receding in much of Assam. But the monsoon-driven weather is unpredictable, and officials worry that intense rains could begin again, raising the water level and bringing more flooding.

Intense rains are drenching some parts of South Asia while other regions are slowly drying out and still others -- including 12 states in India -- are facing one of the worst droughts in years.

In all, monsoon floods have killed at least 323 people in India, according to official estimates.

But the highest death toll has been in the Himalayan kingdom of Nepal, where at least 424 people have either been swept away by swirling floodwaters or crushed under mudslides in remote villages.