Bihar floods: Death toll rises to 253 as situation worsens; around 1.26 crore people affected

Patna: The death toll in Bihar floods rose to 253 on Sunday as the already grim situation worsened with more areas getting affected and around 1.26 crore people facing the deluge. On Saturday, the toll was 202 and the number of affected people was 1.21 crore in 18 districts. [caption id=“attachment_3930429” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. PTI[/caption] No new district was added to the list of the affected districts on Sunday. Araria district accounted for 57 deaths alone, followed by Sitamarhi (31), West Champaran (29), Katihar (23), East Champaran (19) while 13 each have died in Madhubani, Supaul and Madhepura, a Disaster Management Department release said. While 11 deaths were reported in Kishanganj, Darbhanga accounted for 10 deaths while  Purnea and  Gopalganj accounted for nine and eight respectively. Sheohar, Muzaffarpur and Saharsa registered four deaths each while Khagaria and Saran accounted for three and two deaths each respectively, it said. A total of 4.21 lakh people have been shifted to 1,358 relief camps in different parts of the state, it said. Twenty-eight National Disaster Response Force teams comprising 1,152 personnel with 118 boats are involved in rescue and relief operations, an official release said. Besides, 16 teams of the State Disaster Response Force comprising 466 personnel are helping people in the flood-hit areas with 92 boats, it said, adding 630 Army personnel are also assisting in relief and rescue operations with 70 boats. The release said the number of community kitchens have been raised to 2,569 from Saturday’s 1,879. The number of flood-affected people who are being served at these kitchens have also increased from Saturday’s 3.72 lakh to 4.92 lakh, it said. The MeT office said Patna, Gaya, Bhagalpur and Purnea are likely to witness generally cloudy sky with the possibility of rain or thundershower on Monday.