18 Die in India Hospital as Floods Cut off Power

Severe floods that hit the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu this week have killed 18 patients after rain waters knocked out generators, officials said Saturday.

State officials were investigating complaints of negligence by hospital authorities in the state capital Chennai, which is reeling from unprecedented floods.

The 18 patients were in the intensive care unit when a power outage affected ventilators in the hospital, leading to their deaths over the past two to three days, said Health Secretary J. Radhakrishnan.

He said that flood waters entered the room with the generators, cutting off power to the building and switching off the ventilators.

Army soldiers using boats have rescued thousands of residents marooned in high-rise buildings and launched massive relief operations to provide food and medicines.

Although flood waters have begun to recede, vast swathes of Chennai and neighboring districts were still under 8-to-10 feet (2 ½-3 meters) of water, with tens of thousands of people in state-run relief camps.

As officials struggled to supply drinking water and food packets, people were complaining that relief had not yet reached several neighborhoods, four days after they were marooned or stranded on rooftops. Chennai's airport was closed for a fourth day Saturday, although some flights operated from a nearby air force base.

India's main monsoon season runs from June through September, but for Chennai and the rest of India's southeastern coast, the heaviest rainfall is from October to December — also called the retreating monsoon.

This year's deluge — which experts linked to the El Nino weather pattern, when the waters of the Pacific Ocean get warmer than usual — caught Chennai, with a population of 9.6 million, completely unprepared.

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/18-die-india-hospital-floods-cut-off-power-35594264