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Immediately following the vote, the NDP again sided with the Liberals to pass legislation on capital gains taxes, averting another political crisis
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India: At least 40 dead after flash floods hit northeast
Climate scientists warn that similar disasters will become an increasing danger across the Himalayas as global temperatures rise and ice melts
Photo: Reuters
At least 40 people have died in flash floods inundating India's northeast, officials said Friday, as army teams plotted helicopter rescues for more of the thousands stranded in the deluge.
Violent torrents stuck the remote state of Sikkim on Wednesday after the sudden bursting of a high-altitude glacial lake near India's borders with China and Nepal.
Climate scientists warn that similar disasters will become an increasing danger across the Himalayas as global temperatures rise and ice melts.
Downstream search-and-rescue teams recovered more bodies overnight as the waters cut a swathe through the countryside towards the Bay of Bengal.
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V.B. Pathak, the top civil servant in Sikkim state, told AFP that his office had confirmed 19 deaths.
Shama Parveen, a district magistrate in neighbouring West Bengal, said that an additional 21 bodies had been recovered in her state over the past three days.
Roads, bridges and telephone lines have been destroyed across much of the state, complicating evacuations and efforts to communicate with thousands cut off from the rest of the country.
Nearly 8,000 others were taking shelter at makeshift relief camps set up at schools, government offices and guesthouses, according to a state government bulletin.
An Indian army statement said that soldiers on rescue operations had been able to account for nearly 1,500 people visiting from out of state who were still marooned in the worst-hit flood areas.
"There may be a window of opportunity for evacuation of stranded tourists by helicopters" with weather conditions improving on Friday, the statement added.
Army helicopters were also air-dropping supplies to clusters of stranded people, Pathak told reporters.
"We are putting all efforts to provide relief materials to people and in restoring infrastructure," he added.
India's government said it had expedited funding for relief and recovery efforts, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi promising "all possible support" for those affected.
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