Thousands marooned as river breaches banks in eastern India
New Delhi - Thousands of people were marooned in India's eastern state of Bihar Tuesday after the Kosi River breached its banks and changed course, flooding villages and towns across the state, officials said.
The floods, brought on by seasonal monsoon rains, have claimed 47 lives so far in Bihar and affected a population of at least 2 million, an official of the state's Disaster Management Department said.
Three Indian Army helicopters and at least 200 boats were engaged in evacuating marooned people, the official said.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said the breach in the Kosi's embankment near Kusaha in Nepal had forced the river to change its course for the first time since the 1950s, the IANS news agency reported. Kumar said it was not a normal annual flooding but "a catastrophe."
Many of the marooned people have been without food and water for five days, IANS reported.
Bihar Disaster Management Minister Nitish Mishra said thousands had been evacuated in the worst-affected Supaul, Madhepura and Araria districts and taken to relief camps.
More than 1,570 people have died in this year's monsoon rains across India, including the states of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, West Bengal, Orissa, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh, according to the federal Home Ministry.
India's monsoon season lasts from June to October but came a few weeks early this year. (dpa)
