New Delhi - Thousands of people were rendered homeless in India's eastern state of Bihar after a river driven by monsoon rains breached its embankment, flooding nearly 200 villages, news reports said Sunday.

An estimated 100,000 people were affected after the swollen Bagmati river inundated the northern Sitamarhi district bordering Nepal, the IANS news agency reported.

The stranded villagers were living under open skies without food and drinking water, waiting to be rescued.

Teams from the National Disaster Response Force began rescue on Sunday morning as the river breached over a 100-feet embankment in Sitamarhi a day earlier. More villages were likely to be flooded, authorities said.

"We are hungry and our children are crying for food and milk, but nothing has been provided by the government," Narayain Singh, one of the thousands of villagers taking shelter on embankments, told IANS.

At least half a dozen people were feared drowned but officials confirmed only a woman was killed.

Major rivers in north Bihar, especially the Kosi, Gandak, Budhi and Bagmati are in spate following heavy rains in their catchment areas.

With heavy rainfall recorded in the catchments areas in neighbouring Nepal, the water levels of these rivers have risen to dangerous levels in the last four to five days.

The fear of a repeat of last year's devastating floods is haunting thousands of people in the region through which the Kosi river flows.

More than three million people were rendered homeless when the river breached its bank upstream in Nepal and changed course August 2008, flooding vast swathes of land.

The monsoon season in India lasts from June to October and routinely leaves a trail of death and devastation in its wake. More than 600 people have died during the monsoon rains so far this year.(dpa)