10 people have died so far in the devastating Bihar floods (File)
Floodwater entered one more district of Samastipur in Bihar and spread to more inundated areas, hitting half a million more population on Tuesday, even though no fresh casualty was reported and the count remained at 10, an official bulletin said.
According to the bulletin by the state Disaster Management Department, more than 5 lakh people were affected by floods on Tuesday alone, taking the tally of marooned people to 29.62 lakh in 12 districts of the state.
A total of 24.42 lakh people were hit by the floods in 11 districts till Monday. The casualties remained at 10 in the state although the number of affected districts increased to 12 with Samastipur becoming the latest entry to the list on Tuesday, it said.
As per the bulletin, floodwater has engulfed 837 panchayats of 101 blocks of Bihar.
Darbhanga is the worst-hit district as 11.74 lakh people have fallen prey to heavy flooding in its 14 blocks.
In Darbhanga, floodwaters entered the Kusheshwar Asthan Police Station where the water level is around two feet, while the Sadar Police Station has also been witnessing the problem of waterlogging due to incessant rain, sources said. Besides Sadar block and circle office also witnessed waterlogging in Darbhanga district.
Apart from Darbhanga, East Champaran and Muzaffarpur districts have also been badly affected where 7 lakh and 3.2 lakh people, respectively have been affected by floods, the bulletin said.
The flood affected districts include Sitamarhi, Sheohar, Supaul, Kishanganj, Darbhanga, Muzaffarpur, Gopalganj, West Champaran, East Champaran, Khagaria, Saran and Samastipur, it said.
Sixteen teams of the NDRF and nine of the SDRF are involved in the rescue operations as part of which 2.62 lakh have been evacuated from the affected areas so far, the bulletin said.
Besides, 22,997 people are staying in 26 relief camps while nearly 4.19 lakh people were fed at 808 community kitchens.
Several rivers such as Baghmati, Burhi Gandak, Kamlabalan, Adhwara and Khiroi are flowing above danger level, while the water level of Ganga is increasing at Bhagalpur and Kahalgaon. The Ganga water level, however, has witnessed decline in past 24 hours at Buxar, Hathidah, Munger, Digha and Gandhi ghat (both in Patna), the Water Resources Department's bulletin said.