Houses in the Takagachh-Rajarhat panchayat area submerged under water. Picture by Himangshu Ranjan Deb

Cooch Behar, July 19: More than 20,000 people were forced to abandon their houses after the Torsha breached its banks, flooding vast areas adjacent to the town.

Manik Das, an 18-year-old youth, drowned this morning while trying to reach the safety of a crude raft made from banana plants. The body was recovered later in the day and has been sent for post-mortem, police said.

Thousands of people were forced to make crude shelters on the high embankment of the river with whatever little they could salvage from the damaged houses.

?In the Takagachh-Rajarhat panchayat area alone more than 17,000 people have been evacuated after the level of the Torsha rose. We are helping them set up shelters on the embankment,? said Ajoy Roy, a member of the zilla parishad. He said the panchayat and the district administration were doing all they could to provide relief to those affected.

A resident of Takagachh, Nazrul Haq, said: ?The Torsha has been eating into vast areas of the land over the past two days. My agricultural land of eight bighas and my house were also swallowed up.?

About 167 families in the Madhupur gram panchayat area have already set up their temporary homes on the embankment. They pointed out that about 200 families in settlements like Salmara, Aratguchhi and Hokakura, located to the west of the Torsha, were totally cut off from the district headquarters.

Cooch Behar additional district magistrate Chittaranjan Das said: ?We have already sent boats to rescue stranded people and livestock and have taken measures to help people set up camps on the embankment.?

According to sources in the district administration, there were many ?unprotected zones? adjoining the Torsha and these areas have been flooded due to the sudden rise in the river?s level.

Areas within the Mathabhanga subdivision were also affected. The sources said the river was in spate due to heavy rainfall in the hills from where the Torsha, Teesta and Mansai originate.

Today being a total bandh, there was no definite estimate from the administration about the damage caused by the floods.