Torrential rains in the past four days at Bhagalpur, Banka and adjoining areas have thrown normal life out of gear and claimed a life.

Bhagalpur received record 220.5mm rain in the past four days. Rain-fed Ganga, Kosi and other tributaries inundated vast stretches of diara land, catchment areas and standing crops. One Maya Devi (55), wife of Raghu Sah, died on Thursday night at Tarcha village in Goradih police station area of Bhagalpur after a mud wall fell on her. Half a dozen others sustained injuries in different areas in similar incidents. Mohammad Ahsan (35) is missing in the flooded Chandan river near Kamalchawk in Jagdishpur police station area since Thursday.

A district agriculture department report estimated crop loss at over Rs 80 lakh. Water resources department executive engineer Manish Kumar said the Ganga is flowing at 32.46m, just 1m below danger mark and tributaries Chandan, Orni, Badua, Garua, Cheer and Sukhania in Banka near danger mark. An embankment on the Bhagalpur-Dumka road near Pasarbanni got washed away on Thursday. Floodwater from Chandan is also posing a threat to the road near Baizani in Bhagalpur.

Agriculture department sources at Sabour expected heavy rains in the next 48 hours.