RANAGHAT, India Mobs looted shops in marooned villages in eastern India on Sunday as authorities stepped up relief efforts for victims of monsoon flooding which has left 208 people dead and 165 missing, officials said.
"There are a few reports of looting. These things are bound to happen," Inspector General (law and order) Prasun Mukherji told Reuters.
He said details were not available as the floods, combined with a telecommunications department strike in Calcutta, had disrupted telephone services.
The flood had damaged about 800,000 houses in the West Bengal State, Secretary (relief) P.S. Ingty told Reuters. He put the damage at three billion rupees ($65 million).
United News of India said earlier that 240 people had died, but Ingty put the toll at 208.
He said the water level had risen in the worst-hit areas in the Nadia district, 150 km (95 miles) north of Calcutta, and Murshidabad, 100 km (60 miles) further north.
The main highway connecting the river port of Calcutta to Bhutan, Nepal and northeastern India had been submerged by flood water at Ranaghat in Nadia district.
(Reuter)