26 people dead in Bihar floods

Twenty-six people have died and about 22 lakh were affected so far in Bihar floods with many rivers, including Koshi, flowing above danger mark. While Kishanganj alone accounted eight flood-related deaths, seven others perished in Purnia district, the state Disaster Management Department said on Friday.

Katihar and Madhepura district accounted for two deaths each, while Araria and Saharsa recorded one casualty each in the current wave of floods, it said in a statement.

An estimated 21.99 lakh people have been affected by flood across 10 districts -- Purnia, Kishanganj, Araria, Darbhanga, Madhepura, Bhagalpur, Katihar, Saharsa, Supaul and Gopal district, the statement said. An area of 1.83 lakh hectare has been submerged, while the crops spread over .83 lakh hectare got damaged even as the



quantum of loss was under assessment.

Altogether 392 pucca houses have been damaged, while the number of damaged kuchcha houses stood at 4,703. As many as 4,639 hutments have also been damaged in the deluge.

The value of damage to houses and hutments stood at Rs. 67.91 lakh even as assessment was being made about value of damaged public properties.

The Disaster Management Department statement said rivers like Kagmati-Benibad in Muzaffarpur, Aghwara-Kamtaul in Darbhanga, Koshi-Baltara in Khagaria, Koshi-Kursela in Katihar, Mahananda-Dhengra in Purnia and Jhawa in Katihar were flowing above the danger level.

A total of 8,850 boats have been pressed into service to evacuate people stranded in flooded areas with about 3.89 lakh people being evacuated so far.