Extreme weather conditions in India claim 11 lives

At least 11 people were killed in extreme weather in India on Wednesday, officials and media told Reuters.
The national capital, New Delhi, began to swelter on Tuesday due to extreme heat wave conditions in what was described as the hottest night in six years.
At least five people died in the capital’s hospital due to the heat, according to the Times of India. Meanwhile, landslides and floods triggered by incessant rain in the northeastern Indian state of Assam killed at least six people on Tuesday afternoon.
“The landslide buried the woman and her three daughters alive,” state disaster official Siju Das said by phone.
“The house collapsed and they died there in the middle of the night,” he said, adding that the bodies were found by rescuers after a three-hour search.
“A three-year-old child was also killed.”
Billions of people in Asia are struggling with extreme heat due to climate change, scientists say.
Temperatures in Delhi and the nearby desert state of Rajasthan have soared to 50 degrees since March, with more than double the normal number of heat waves in the north-west and east of the country this season.
These conditions are caused by lightning and warm winds blowing from nearby dry areas.
More than 160,000 people were affected in Assam, as water rose above dangerous levels in the Kopil, one of the largest tributaries of the Brahmaputra, one of India’s largest rivers.
Officials say more than 30 people have died in floods and landslides caused by heavy rains since the end of May.