Millions still depending on aid as South Asia floods recede

NEW DELHI (AFP) - The millions of people hit by some of the worst flooding in South Asia for decades continued to depend on aid supplies of food and clean water on Sunday as the inundation slowly receded.

The heavy rains and flooding have affected nearly 30 million people and killed around 2,200 across India, Bangladesh and Nepal since the start of the monsoon in June.

"The toll is 1,668," in India said S.S. Singh, from the national disaster management division in the country's home ministry.

Twenty-one new deaths were reported in the state of Bihar by Saturday afternoon, he added, but the figure does not include some flood-related deaths such as capsized boats last week that claimed dozens of lives.

Some 15 million people were affected by flood waters in northern India, with the worst-off losing their homes and crops, officials have said.

Approximately 1.1 million hectares of farmland were swamped with water, mainly in the northern belt of Bihar.

Almost seven million people were displaced in India's Uttar Pradesh and Assam, but many of these have now returned home.