As a deadly deluge threatens to devour his village - Mahmari in Assam's Morigaon district - Samsul Alam, 65, struggles to stay afloat on a raft made of banana tree trunks lashed together. He tries hard to row to safety, but the current is too strong, and the flood waters push his raft back. Morigaon is one of the worst-hit districts in the state, where the overflowing Brahmaputra has breached three embankments.
Flash floods caused by heavy rains in catchment areas of Nepal have ravaged a dozen districts of Bihar so far, claiming 78 lives and affecting 55 lakh people, the state's disaster management department said on Thursday.
A tiger escaped from the Kaziranga National Park in flood-ravaged Assam and stretched out on a shophouse bed Thursday, startling residents and shining a spotlight on the plight of animals caught up in the deluge.
Chest-deep in brown, flowing monsoon water and holding bags of clothes and utensils above their heads, residents in Bihar are hungry and in despair.
A 24-year-old woman in flood-hit Assam gave birth to a baby boy in a boat on Monday and named him Krishnaafter the Hindu Godwhowas also believed to have been born during massive floods.
Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Thursday expressed solidarity with flood victims in the north and north-eastern states.