Flood victims refuse to leave cattle

Spotting a family stranded on the roof of a partly submerged house, two Indian Navy commandos swept in over the muddy floodwaters in a black rubber dinghy to save them - only to be shooed away.

Some 1.2 million people have seen their towns and villages swamped by two weeks of monsoon flooding in northern India, but some are refusing to leave, fearing evacuation would trap them in a future as homeless and penniless refugees.

"Just go away," Surinder Yadav shouted from the roof of his soggy house, where he sheltered with his wife, mother and five children.