A damaged railway line in flood-hit Katihar district on Tuesday. (PTI Photo) A damaged railway line in flood-hit Katihar district on Tuesday. (PTI Photo)

With 13 districts of the state inundated, the death toll in Bihar has gone up to 56. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar took his second aerial survey of the flood-hit areas on Tuesday as the situation in the state worsened. According to Anirudh Kumar, special secretary in the state disaster management department, 69.81 lakh people are in the grip of floods which have engulfed 98 blocks and 1,070 panchayats in Bihar. Muzaffarpur district is the latest to be added to the list.

Out of the 56 deaths, 20 have been reported from Araria, nine from West Champaran, eight from Kisanganj, five from Sitamarhi, four from Madhepura, three each from East Champaran, Darbhanga and Madhubani, and one from Sheohar. 1.61 lakh people have been evacuated and taken to safer places, Kumar said. Out of them, 85,949 have been put up in 343 relief camps in different places.

In his Independence Day speech earlier on Tuesday, Nitish expressed concern over the ‘grim flood situation’. “The flood situation caused by incessant rains in Nepal and some districts of north Bihar is grim. The rivers in north Bihar are flowing above the danger level and have caused immense loss and damage,” he said.

Assuring that the government will do everything to ensure relief and rescue operations, Kumar thanked PM Modi for promptly sending the NDRF and Army to the affected areas. The CM had also made an aerial survey of the flood hit areas on Monday.

On Monday, PM Modi had spoken to Kumar regarding the flood situation in the state and assured him of all support from the Centre to mitigate the situation. He said the situation is being monitored closely. Modi also tweeted: “My thoughts are with all those affected by floods in parts of Bihar.”

IAF continues its flood relief operations in Bihar. The situation looks pretty grim. pic.twitter.com/8xAljcVu3B — Man Aman Chhina (@manaman_chhina) August 15, 2017

Principal Secretary of Disaster Management department Pratyay Amrit, who has been coordinating relief and rehabilitation operations, told PTI that community kitchen has been started in camps for flood victims.

With railway tracks inundated, no trains are going beyond Katihar towards north east, East Central Railway (ECR) chief public relations officer Rajesh Kumar informed PTI. According to ANI, ten trains have been cancelled for Wednesday and seven for Thursday due to water logging in Katihar Division. Kumar also informed that after cancellation of 33 trains on Monday, Demu service between Samastipur and Raxual and the Gaya-Kamakhya Express were cancelled on Tuesday due to the floods.

(With inputs from PTI and ANI)

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