September 4, 2008--A man is airlifted onto an Indian Air Force helicopter as floodwaters engulf his village in the eastern Indian state of Bihar on September 3, 2008.

The flood occurred when heavy monsoon rains ruptured a dam that reins in the Kosi River in Nepal on August 18. Huge waves rushed downstream, inundating hundreds of villages in Nepal, India, and Bangladesh.

The deluge has destroyed more than 250,000 acres (101,000 hectares) of farmland, killed at least 90 people, and left at least a million people homeless.

(Related: "India Monsoons Intensifying, Hazard Risks Increasing, Study Says" [December 1, 2006].)

Aid agencies are criticizing the Indian government for a slow and disorganized response.