Flood situation worsens in Bihar; toll rises to 253

The toll in Bihar floods rose to 253 on Sunday as the situation worsened further with more areas getting affected and around 1.26 crore people hit by the deluge.

The toll was 202 on Saturday and the number of affected people was 1.21 crore in 18 districts. No new district has been added to the list of flood-hit districts on Sunday.

Araria district accounted for 57 deaths alone, followed by Sitamarhi (31), West Champaran (29), Katihar (23), East Champaran (19) while 13 each have died in Madhubani, Supaul and Madhepura.

As many as 4.21 lakh people have been shifted to 1,358 relief camps in different parts of the state, the release said.

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar undertook an aerial survey of the flood-affected areas.

Twenty-eight National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams comprising 1,152 personnel with 118 boats are involved in rescue and relief operations.

The local MeT office said Patna, Gaya, Bhagalpur and Purnea are likely to witness generally cloudy sky with the possibility of rain or thundershower on Monday.

In Uttar Pradesh, fresh flood-related deaths pushed the overall toll to 69. Over 20 lakh people have been hit by the floods in 24 districts of the state. “The toll in the floods has reached 69 in the state, where 2,523 villages in 24 districts are flooded affecting a population of over 20 lakh,” the relief commissioner’s office said. It said 39,783 persons have take shelter in relief camps in the affected districts.

The situation has improved a lot in six flood-hit districts of Bengal as there has been no major rainfall over the past three days.