Situation remains grim in flood-hit Assam, Bihar, West Bengal, Meghalaya

New Delhi: The flood situation in Bihar, West Bengal and Assam continues to be "alarming", where over a crore people have been affected and hundreds of lives lost.

Bihar

The death toll due to floods in Bihar has mounted to 72, as 73.44 lakh people across 14 districts have been hit by inundation.

The worst affected areas were Kishanganj, Araria, Purnea and Katihar of Seemanchal region and Supaul, Madhepura and Saharsa of Koshi region.

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar along with his deputy Sushil Kumar Modi took stock of the situation as they conducted aerial surveys on Wednesday in West Champaran district.

The government has launched massive relief and rescue operations with help from the Army, Air Force as well as the National Disaster Response Force and Bihar State Disaster Response Force teams.

Train services continued to be affected due to the calamity and rail movement is completely disrupted in many sections, a statement from East Central Railways chief public relations officer Rajesh Kumar said.

These included the Motihari-Valmikinagar Road section of Samastipur division as water is flowing over the rail tracks in Narkatiaganj yard, besides Chamua-Narkatiaganj, Narkatiaganj-Sathi sections and Semra yard.

Rail service was hit in Sitamarhi-Raxaul section of Samastipur Division due to flooding of tracks between Chaura Dano-Adapur stations and Kundwa Chainpur-Bairagnia stations.

The Sugauli-Raxaul section of the saw flood waters submerging Sugauli and Raxaul yards and inundate area between Raxaul-Ramgarhwa stations.

In Darbhanga-Sitamarhi section of Samastipur division the flood water is flowing over rail tracks between Janakpur Road-Bajpatti stations and Kamtaul-Jogiara stations.

As a result, several trains passing through these sections have been cancelled, diverted, short terminated and short originated, he said.

Reports said flood waters have submerged NH-104 in Sitamarhi, NH-31 in Kishanganj and NH-327 in Araria.

Assam

There was no let up in the flood situation in Assam with more deaths being reported from the state due to the natural calamity.

The number of lives lost in the third wave of floods in Assam increased by 11, taking the toll to 39. Around 33.45 lakh people in 24 of the 32 districts in the state remained affected due to the floods.

The number of lives claimed by the floods in Assam so far this year stood at 123, including eight in Guwahati.

The Assam government has pressed into service Army and Border Security Force officials besides the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) officials in relief and rescue operations in different parts of the state.

ASDMA officials said that floods have affected 33,45,442 people so far in 2,970 villages in 24 districts as on Wednesday and 1,38,648 people are still taking shelter in 304 the relief camps.

Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal said the government has accorded top priority to the relief material distribution and the district administrations have been pressed into service to meet the requirements.

West Bengal

At least 32 people have died and over 14 lakh people affected due to floods in six districts of north Bengal partly due to overflowing rivers of Bhutan, Bihar and Jharkhand.

The highest number of 3,64,043 people hit by the calamity are in Malda, followed by 3,53,328 in Alipurduar, 1,78,546 in Jalpaiguri, 1,30,634 persons in Cooch Behar, 1,25,435 in South Dinajpur and 1,20,000 in North Dinajpur districts, an official said.

The railway service in north Bengal and northeast India remained suspended even on Wednesday as the flood waters were flowing over the railway tracks at several places.

Several trains from Howrah, Sealdah and Kolkata railway stations to north Bengal including Uttarbanga Express, Kanchankanya Express, and trains to Assam's Dibrugarh have been cancelled.

Meghalaya

Over one lakh persons have been affected by floods in the Brahmaputra and Jingiram rivers, the waters of which have inundated 136 villages in western Meghalaya.

Fortunately, No loss of life has been reported so far.

The affected areas included Phulbari, Rajabala, Singimari, Paham, Bhaitbari, Silkata, Bholarbhita, Haripur Haribhanga, and Namabila, an official said.