Death toll reaches nearly 150 due to floods in India

NEW DELHI -- The combined death toll in India's floods-affected states of Bihar and Assam has reached around 150, official sources from the two states told Xinhua over phone.

Over 11.5 million people have been adversely affected in these two states, even as many of them lost all their belongings.

While around 100 people have so far died in eastern state Bihar, as many as 50 people have died due to devastating floods in north-eastern state of Assam over the past one week. Among the dead in Assam, two have died due to landslides triggered by flash floods.

Among the dead in Bihar, the maximum of 27 people died in Sitamarhi district, while 14 died in Madhubani, 12 in Arariya, 10 died in Seohar, nine each in Darbhanga and Purniya, five in Kishanganj, three in Supaul, and in Saharsa district, the Disaster Management Department of the Bihar government said.

Over 6.6 million people have been affected across 12 major floods-hit districts. Over 1.7 million people have been affected in Sitamarhi district, more than 1.3 million in Madhubani, around 1 million in Arariya district, besides the rest in other districts.

As many as 125,000 people, who lost all their belongings in the ravaging floods, have been put in relief camps set up in safer areas, an official in the state government said.

Relief and rescue teams of the National Disaster Response Force, the State Disaster Response Force and other government agencies have been pressed into service in the flood-affected areas in Bihar for search and rescue operations.

According to an official in the Assam State Disaster Management Authority, the death toll in the state due to floods has reached 50. A total of 11 persons died in the past 24 hours, including five in Dhubri district, and three each in Barpeta and Morigaon districts of the state.