Flood continues to wreak havoc, crores of people affected

LUCKNOW/GUWAHATI/PATNA: There is no let up in the flood fury across eastern part of the country, especially in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, as raging waters of the rivers originating from Nepal continue to cause havoc in vast areas. The death toll from drowning, collapsed houses and landslides triggered by monsoon rains climbed to over 600 on Saturday.
Neighbouring Nepal and Bangladesh are also suffering due to the flood waters.Army soldiers and disaster management workers in the three countries have launched mammoth rescue efforts to evacuate and provide food and shelter to crores of affected people.
In Bihar, two brothers, both teenagers, drowned in flood water in Motihari town area of East Champaran district, police said. 202 people have so far died in the state as swirling floodwaters submerged hundreds of villages and swept away homes.

1.21 crore people have been affected by the floods in 18 districts of Bihar. Samastipur was on Saturday included in the list of flood-affected districts, taking the number of inundated districts to 18. Nearly five lakh people are there in more than 1,300 state-run relief camps, officials said.
Railway officials said on Saturday that the train network still remains breached in Kishanganj, Katihar and Araria, among the worst affected districts. The weather office said that Patna, Gaya, Bhagalpur and Purnea are likely to witness generally cloudy sky with the possibility of rain or thundershower on Sunday.
"The restoration work is going on on a war footing in all locations. As per the engineering estimate, full connectivity cannot be restored before August 28. However, to alleviate the problems of passengers wanting to leave from the northeast or come in and for the movement of goods the railways have been trying to make some arrangements," Northeast Frontier Railway Chief Public Relations Officer P J Sharma said.
In neighboring Uttar Pradesh, the death toll rose to 40 as floodwaters submerged entire villages after 13 small dams were washed away, state officials said.
Flooded banks of Ganga River in Allahabad. (PTI photo)
The Rohini, Gandak and Rapti rivers were flowing above the danger mark and could breach their banks, adding to the sense of urgency in evacuating people from low-lying villages, said government official Avnish Awasthi. A Central Water Commission (CWC) report said the Sharda river was flowing above the 'red' mark at Palia and near the danger mark at Shardanagar, while the Ghaghra was flowing well above the 'red' mark at Elgin Bridge, Ayodhya and Turtipar.
The flood situation worsened after water was released from swollen rivers in Nepal that threatened to overflow, Awasthi said.
Army choppers, the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and the Provincial Armed Constabulary's (PAC) flood battalion carried on with the relief and rescue operations round-the-clock in the severely-hit areas of the 22 flood-affected districts of the state.

Soldiers used motorboats to rescue people marooned on rooftops while air force helicopters dropped packets of food and drinking water to those trapped in their homes.
Sources in the government said over 15 lakh people were affected in Uttar Pradesh due to the floods.
Officials said 144 people were swept away or drowned in Assam while 60 others were killed in West Bengal. All the northeastern states have remained cut off from the other parts of country as rail connectivity snapped forcing the Railway Board to suspend train services beyond Malda and Alipurduar (West Bengal).
The Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) said it hopes to fix the snapped rail links to the region by August 28 if the flood situation does not deteriorate further.
At Kaziranga, nearly 80 per cent of the 430-square-kilometre wildlife park was under water. Around 15 rhinos, 185 deer and at least one Royal Bengal tiger have died in the devastating floods, park director Satyendra Singh said.
An elephant at the Kaziranga national park. (Reuters photo)
Some of the animals had crossed a highway and moved to higher land. The Assam government has deployed security guards on the highway to protect the rhinos from poachers, said Singh.
In Nepal, floods have killed around 110 people since the monsoon rains began in June. However, the floodwaters were receding and no new casualties have been recorded, officials said.
In Bangladesh, more than 70 people have died over the past week due to drowning or snake bites this monsoon season.