Shoumojit Banerjee

A sudden, violent tropical storm mauled east Bihar late on Tuesday night, killing 77 people, besides rendering thousands homeless.

A Freak storm preceded by hurricane-force winds killed nearly a hundred people in four blocks of North Dinajpur district in West Bengal and Araria, Purnea and Kishanganj districts of Bihar around midnight on Tuesday. While 31 people were killed and more than 50 injured in West Bengal, the toll was around 65 in Bihar.

Thousands of people affected by swirling river waters in Uttar Pradesh and Assam also

Inundated: People wading through water-logged streets in Patna after heavy rain lashed the city.

Patna: The flood situation in seven northern districts of Bihar further worsened on Monday with swollen river waters inundating fresh areas, even as the death toll mounted to 14.

NREGA Survey 2008 was conducted in May-June 2008. It covered 10 districts spread over six North Indian States (Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh). The sample districts were Araria and Kaimur (Bihar), Surguja (Chhattisgarh), Koderma and Palamau (Jharkhand), Badwani and Sidhi (Madhya Pradesh), Dungarpur and Sirohi (Rajasthan) and Sitapur (Uttar Pradesh).

Even as he faked calmness, Dr Shakeel-ur Rahman was in turmoil as he tried to save a two-year-old girl suffering from acute diarrhoea. He needed to put her on intravenous therapy but the doctor and his staff could not locate her veins.

IN the tsunami of December 2004, people heard a strange, deep rumbling before columns of the sea came in. In 2008, the people of north Bihar had no such warning. The river was silent and swift, rising from a deceptive two feet to nearly eight feet in a matter of hours, trapping lakhs of people in remote villages in the districts of Purnea, Madhepura, Araria, Supaul, Saharsa and Kul.

The fishes are gasping, not out of the water this time. Rather in the water itself!