17 killed in heavy downpour in India

At least 17 people from four families were buried alive in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu when heavy downpour caused a large wall to collapse on their homes while they were sleeping.

According to reports from a police officer, he stated that among the dead people included two children in Nadur village in Thanjavur district, who was pounded by torrential rain.

The 20 feet (6 metres) high wall crumbled at around 5:30am (00:00 GMT), this is some 50km (30 miles) from north of Coimbatore.

Efforts were on to rescue the trapped people and clear the debris from the compound wall, which fell on houses close by.

India saw its wettest monsoon in a quarter of a century, with the rainy season lasting longer this year, triggering floods and killing hundreds of people. The monsoon’s withdrawal, which began in early October and is the main source of rain for the southeastern states was delayed.

Weather officials in the main city of Chennai issued a red alert in six Tamil Nadu districts on Sunday and warned fishermen against going to the sea due to cyclonic storms.  India Today website also stated that all activities in schools have been disrupted due to the weather.  Chennai’s Madras University and Anna University postponed all their examinations scheduled for Monday due to the continuous rains over the past few days.