Asia

Death toll in India monsoon rains climbs past 90

Associated Press
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FILE - In this Sunday, July 31, 2016, file photo, a flood affected family moves on a banana raft past a fishing net in Morigaon district, east of Gauhati, northeastern Assam state, India. Incessant downpours have damaged swaths of land, uprooted trees and snapped telephone cables in dozens of districts in the states of Bihar in the east, Assam in the remote northeast and Himachal Pradesh in the north. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath, File) (The Associated Press)

FILE- In this July 31, 2016, file photo, flood affected villagers transport their sheep on a boat in Morigaon district, east of Gauhati, northeastern Assam state, India. Incessant downpours have damaged swaths of land, uprooted trees and snapped telephone cables in dozens of districts in the states of Bihar in the east, Assam in the remote northeast and Himachal Pradesh in the north. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath, File) (The Associated Press)

FILE- In this July 31, 2016, file photo, a flood affected woman wades through water near her partially submerged house in Morigaon district, east of Gauhati, northeastern Assam state, India. Incessant downpours have damaged swaths of land, uprooted trees and snapped telephone cables in dozens of districts in the states of Bihar in the east, Assam in the remote northeast and Himachal Pradesh in the north. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath, File)WLD (The Associated Press)

Indian officials say the death toll in heavy monsoon rains has climbed past 90, with over 700,000 taking shelter in government-run relief camps.

Incessant downpours have damaged swaths of land and snapped telephone cables in dozens of districts in the states of Bihar in the east, Assam in the remote northeast and Himachal Pradesh in the north.

A total of 96 people have been killed in the rains in the three states over the past week, according to state officials.

Assam state Forest and Environment Minister Pramilla Rani Brahma said Tuesday that at least 17 rhinos have been killed due to rains flooding vast tracts of the state's Kaziranga National Park.

The heavy monsoon rains have come after two straight years of drought in India.