19 killed, 150,000 displaced in floods in Eastern India

Floods caused by heavy monsoon rains have killed 19 people and left more than 150,000 homeless in India's eastern state of Orissa, officials said Tuesday. The state administration stepped up rescue and relief efforts after incessant rains over the last week affected almost 4,000 villages across the coastal and western parts of Orissa. "According to the latest information we have, a total of 19 people died in the torrential rains and floods," said S Pradhan, an officer at the Orissa relief control room in state capital Bhubaneshwar was quoted as saying by the German Press Agency "DPA".