India: Floods leave at least 31 dead, many stranded in Tamil Nadu

At least 31 people were killed in floods and heavy rain in India’s southern state of Tamil Nadu this week, a top federal minister has said, as rescuers struggle to reach scores still stranded in high waters.

Heavy rains have paralysed several districts of the state, inundating entire neighbourhoods, roads and railway tracks, days after a cyclone hit India’s south-eastern coast, causing widespread damage.

The state is one of the major electronics and manufacturing hubs in India, where rains eight years ago in state capital Chennai killed 290 people and inundated large swathes of the city.