An old man wades through floodwater carrying a newborn in his arms in Bihpur of Bhagalpur district on Saturday. Picture by Amit Kumar

Bhagalpur/Saharsa, Aug. 20: Increase in the water-level of Ganga and Kosi has cast a shadow on the fate of thousands of villagers in the districts of eastern Bihar. Three persons have reportedly lost their lives in Bhagalpur in the past 48 hours, while some have gone missing.

Water from the two rivers invaded villages after embankments under Naugachia sub-division in northern Bhagalpur developed breaches. Heavy rain, accompanied by discharge of water from Nepal into Kosi, is also posing a major threat to Madhepura, Saharsa, Supaul and Araria.

Punam Kumar (15) under Sultanganj block drowned in the floodwater on Friday, while Hari Goswami (34), a resident of Katchari Tola under Ishmailpur panchayat in Naugachia, also drowned in floodwater. Raja (20), under Sonebarsa panchayat in Bihpur block of Naugachia, also drowned this morning.

Villagers at Narkatia apprehended the death toll to rise in the coming days because of the damage to the embankment of Ganga at Narkatia located between Kharik and Bihpur blocks.

“Many villagers fear being washed away. Several families are missing,” Bibhuti Roy, a villager told The Telegraph.

BJP MLA (Bihpur) Engineer Sailendra said the damage to the Narkatia embankment has affected more than 1 lakh people. Ramnagar, Sonebarsa, Narkatia, Lattipur, Musahari, along with dozens of other villages, have been inundated.

“Floodwater is fast approaching National Highway (NH) 80 and NH-14,” the MLA said.

The increase in the water-level of Kosi has triggered massive land erosion in some places like Trimuhan under Bihpur block.

The spectre of the 2008 floods returned to haunt the villagers of Supaul, Munger and Lakhisarai districts.