Bihar flood toll rises to 482, 101 dead in Uttar Pradesh

As many as 42 deaths in floodrelated incidents were reported from Bihar in the last 24 hours, taking the toll to 482, whereas five persons lost their lives in Uttar Pradesh, pushing the flood toll in that state to 101.

The situation in flood-hit Assam though improved substantially and in north Bengal, the flood waters had receded from most of the areas in the six flood-hit districts.

As many as 1.71 crore people in 19 districts of Bihar were still affected by the deluge, officials said.

A total of 187 blocks and 2,371 panchayats were affected by the flood, a state Disaster Management department release said, adding that the number of relief camps had come down to 222, where 1.44 lakh people had taken shelter.

Araria district alone accounted for 95 deaths, followed by Sitamarhi (46), Purnea (44), Katihar (40), West Champaran (36), East Champaran (32), Darbhanga (30), Madhubani (28), Madhepura (25), Kishanganj (24), Gopalganj (20), Supual (16), Saran (13), Muzaffarpur (9), Saharsa (8), Khagaria (8), Sheohar (6) and Samastipur (2).

The flood waters, however, had receded at some places, prompting many to return home, officials said.

A total of 28 National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams comprising 1,152 personnel with 118 boats, 16 teams of the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and 630 Army personnel, divided into seven teams, were taking part in the rescue-and relief operations, they added.

The MeT office has forecast heavy rain at one or two places of West Champaran district, north-central, north-east and south-east parts of the state tomorrow.

Five deaths in flood-related incidents were reported from Uttar Pradesh in the last 24 hours, taking the toll to 101, the flood control room at the relief commissioner's office told PTI.

Four deaths were reported from Gorakhpur district, while the other one was reported from Lakhimpur Kheri, it added.

The number of flood-hit districts had reduced from 24 to 14, officials said, adding that 3,128 villages remained affected by the deluge and 2,061 of them were marooned.

Rivers such as the Rapti, Ghaghara, Burhi Rapti, Rohini and Quano were in spate and had inundated vast areas of Lakhimpur Kheri, Barabanki, Faizabad and Ballia, Gorakhpur, Siddharthnagar, officials said.

The flood situation in Assam registered a marked improvement today, although over 1.6 lakh people were still suffering across six districts of the north-eastern state, an Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) report said.

Over 2.03 lakh people were hit by the latest wave of floods in Assam till yesterday.

The affected districts are Dhemaji, Barpeta, Chirang, Morigaon, Nagaon and Karbi Anglong.

The third wave of floods has so far claimed the lives of 73 people across Assam and the total number of deaths in flood-related incidents this year stood at 157 in the state, including eight in capital Guwahati.

As per today's ASDMA report, Morigaon was the worst hit with over 92,000 affected people, followed by Nagaon where 54,500 people were hit by the deluge.

Currently, 343 villages were under water and nearly 25,000 hectares of crop area were inundated, the ASDMA said.

The authorities are running 91 relief camps and distribution centres in four districts, where 24,557 people have taken shelter.

The Dhansiri river at Numaligarh in Golaghat district, the Katakhal at Matizuri in Hailakandi district and the Kushiyara at Karimganj town were flowing above the 'danger'

mark, the ASDMA said.

In West Bengal, the flood waters had receded from most of the places of the six affected districts in the northern parts of the state as the toll remained static at 90, a state Disaster Management department official said.

The improvement, he added, was aided by little or no rainfall over the last few days in Alipurduar, Jalpaiguri, Uttar Dinajpur, Dakshin Dinajpur, Cooch Behar and Malda districts.

"There has been no report of fresh deaths from any of the six districts. The water is receding and people are returning home," the officer said, adding that the bus services were resuming gradually in the affected districts.

Nearly 59 lakh people were affected by the flood and over six lakh hectares of crop damaged with an estimated loss of Rs 7,000 crore, the state agricultural department said.