Assam floods: Half a million Indians have fled floods in the northeast due to rain

One of the world’s largest rivers, the Brahmaputra, which flows into India and neighboring Bangladesh from Tibet, has blew its banks into the state of Assam over the past three days, inundating more than 1,500 villages.

Heavy rain swept through most of the rugged state, and rain continued on Wednesday, with more forecasts expected over the next two days.

“More than 500,000 people have been affected with the flood situation turning critical every hour,” Bijosh Hazarika, Assam’s Minister of Water Resources, told Reuters, adding that the seven had drowned in separate incidents over the past three days.

Indian Army soldiers have rescued more than 2,000 trapped people in Hogai district in an ongoing rescue effort, according to the state’s health minister Kshabab Mahanta.

National authorities said water levels were expected to rise in the Brahmaputra River.

“The situation remains very grave in the hardest-hit Dima Hasaw district, with railways and roads cut off by floods and landslides,” said Assam’s Minister of Revenue Gojen Mohan, who is overseeing relief efforts there.

Meanwhile, other cities in India, notably the capital, New Delhi, are experiencing a heat wave that has engulfed most of South Asia.

Rising temperatures in parts of Pakistan India in recent weeks has forced schools to close, damaged crops, strained energy supplies and kept residents indoors. It even prompted experts to question whether this temperature is suitable for human survival.

Jacobabad, one of the world’s hottest cities, in Pakistan’s Sindh province, recorded 51 degrees Celsius (123.8 Fahrenheit) last Sunday, and 50 degrees Celsius (122 Fahrenheit) the day before. In India, temperatures in Delhi topped 49 degrees Celsius (120 Fahrenheit) on Sunday.