Bihar flood toll mounts to 379, Nitish visits flood-hit areas

The toll in Bihar flood today rose to 379 with 12 more deaths, even as Chief Minister Nitish Kumar visited East Champaran district of the state.
The flood toll stood at 367 till yesterday in the state.
Over 1.61 crore people have been hit by the deluge in 19 districts of the state.
With water receding in some places, many people have returned to their homes and the number of relief camps dropped to 624 in which 1.56 lakh people were staying, Special Secretary in state disaster management department Anirudh Kumar said.
Araria district alone accounted for 80 deaths, followed by Sitamarhi (43), West Champaran (36), Katihar (35), Madhubani (25), Kisanganj (24), Darbhanga (22), Madhepura (21), East Champaran and Gopalganj (19 each), Supual (16), Purnea (9), Khagaria, Saran and Muzaffarpur (7 each), Sheohar and Saharsa (4 each) and Samastipur district (1).

A total of 3.44 lakh people had food in 1,565 community kitchens operational in marooned areas of Bihar, the special secretary said.

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today visited the flood-hit areas of East Champaran district.
Kumar inspected community kitchens in Sugauli, Motihari and Sugaon in the district, an official statement said.
The chief minister took feed back from people having meal from the community kitchens regarding quality of food.
He also inspected health camps and camps for animals.
Kumar also visited Lumbini bhawan in Motihari to inspect quality of food packets prepared for distribution among families battling the splurge.
Chief Secretary Anjani Kumar Singh and Principal Secretary Disaster Management department Pratyay Amrit were present with the chief minister.

The state weather office has forecast generally cloudy sky with a few spells of rain or thundershower at some places in the state tomorrow.
It also issued a warning of thundershower accompanied by lightning in one or two places in the state tomorrow.
The BJP legislators and ministers handed over cheque of their salary for flood relief purposes to Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi.
Modi had yesterday announced that all BJP legislators will donate at least one month's salary of about Rs 30,000 for flood relief while BJP ministers would contribute at least three months' salary of around Rs one lakh.

The legislative Assembly and the legislative Council saw spat between opposition RJD-Congress-CPI-ML and treasury bench comprising Legislators of the JD(U) and BJP over flood in the state.
Both the Houses saw adjournment following din over flood and relief works being carried for victims.