Death toll exceeds 1,000 in South Asia floods

PAIRADANGA, India - Torrential rains and deadly floods in India and Bangladesh have cast a cruel twist on the region's biggest Hindu festival that ordinarily would be marked with frenzied celebrations and gifts.

During the Durga Puja festival, devotees honor Durga, the mythological goddess thought to bring blessings and save people from hardships. The festival is to be held this coming week.

But the killer floods that in the last two weeks have devastated much of West Bengal state and part of neighboring Bangladesh - forcing millions from their homes - could prove too big a challenge even for Durga.

''How can I expect my father to buy a gift for me when we have lost our home?'' asked Shibani Biswas, an eighth-grader who stood in a muddy expanse after flood waters receded in Pairadanga, a farming village 40 miles north of Calcutta.

More than 1,000 people have died, or are missing and presumed dead, after unseasonable monsoon rains forced rivers to overflow across eastern India and western Bangladesh.

The victims succumbed to drowning, snake bites and murder by pirates looting abandoned villages. Survivors are battling cholera, diarrhea and typhoid that have broken out in crowded relief camps in Bangladesh.

Some 18 million people in both countries are believed to be marooned. Millions more have seen their meager homes washed away.

Churning flood waters submerged new areas Saturday in Bangladesh, where flood waters inundated farmland and submerged roads in 185 villages the day before.

In Calcutta, the state capital of West Bengal, weather specialists held out hope, saying the Hooghly River was returning to normal levels after inundating many parts of the region.

Hundreds of villagers throughout the region have been fleeing their submerged homes for higher ground on rafts made of banana trees tied together with ropes, ferrying all household goods and small farm animals they could take with them.

Others wade through waist-high flood water, carrying children and the elderly on their shoulders.

''After the initial chaos we are now getting enough food. But I wonder where I shall get the money to rebuild my two damaged houses?'' asked Nitendra Shaha, one of 200 people crammed into a temporary shelter.

Relief officials in West Bengal estimate it will take $65 million to repair damaged homes; another $714 million to replace the value of lost crops.

Food and water are being taken to flood-ravaged districts in the six hardest-hit districts of West Bengal. But flood victims are prey to robbers who raid relief camps and steal supplies.

Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina surveyed the flooded areas in a helicopter Saturday and visited relief centers in the worst hit Chuadanga, Meherpur and Jhenidah districts, the United News of Bangladesh news agency reported.

''All assistance will be given to the flood victims,'' Hasina said at a relief camp in Chuadanga, 100 miles east of Dhaka. ''None will be allowed to die from starvation.''