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Summary Military was called in to help flood victims in northern India.
Air force helicopters and soldiers in rubber dinghies helped deliver fresh water and food to flood victims in northeast India on Tuesday as the number of displaced rose to 1.8 million.Nineteen of 27 districts in the state of Assam have been hit by floods and 13 people have been killed over the past week, according to the latest figures from the local disaster management authority.The remote and impoverished state, which was rocked by ethnic violence last month, has been flooded three times this year by the mighty Brahmaputra River, which often breaks its banks during the monsoon season.Thousands of people in Majuli, a densely populated river island about 350 kilometres (220 miles) from Assams main city of Guwahati, have fled to higher ground or are crowded onto embankments.An air force helicopter, flying missions in between rain storms, was seen dropping packets of rice, water, biscuits and baby food on one embankment, sparking a scramble among young and old.Rain is continuing to pound Assam and adjoining Arunachal Pradesh state, where the Brahmaputra flows into India from its starting point in bordering Tibet. The number of displaced people stood at 1.5 million on Monday.According to the Central Water Commission, the river was flowing above the danger level in at least 10 places in Assam and still rising.A government relief effort is gathering pace to help the stranded and displaced, but is being hampered by the bad weather.Floodwaters have also submerged the internationally famous 430-square-kilometre (166-square-mile) Kaziranga National Park in eastern Assam, home to the worlds largest concentration of endangered one-horned rhinos.Authorities are asking truckers and other drivers on a nearby national highway to drive at less than 40 kilometres an hour to reduce the risks for wildlife fleeing the floods.The Brahmaputra has flooded twice already this year, in June and in August, an official in the local weather office told AFP.
