Madhepura, Sept. 21: Two days back, villagers of Ranaiya in Simri Bakthirpur block held a suspected child-lifter and beat him black and blue. Timely intervention of police saved the life of Hari Tanti, once a marginal farmer now rendered homeless by the August 18 breach of the Kosi river.

Hari of Lakshmipur village in Patharghat block in neighbouring Saharsa district is not mad; devastating floods, which killed his siblings and wife, have made him lunatic. “I found my son there so started playing with him,” was the sorry excuse of Hari.

Hari was not an isolated instance, as many others like him lost their mental balance, and unable to come to terms with the havoc unleashed by nature’s fury.

“Give us food and drinking water,” was all these frail villagers could utter to this correspondent. Several of the victims turned violent too. “If you can’t serve us neither food, nor water, then why are you coming here? To see fun?” asked a lady.

Narandar Narayan Yadav, the state minister and in charge of flood affairs, said that because of snapping of roads to the areas, relief material were transported through Khagaria or Bhagalpur or through waterways.

“The new water course of Kosi becomes dangerous. On September 19, a boat carrying relief material to Shankarpur was capsized in the mainstream of the new river but there was no casualties,” he added.