NEW DELHI - The death toll from flooding in the eastern Indian state of Bihar has reached 250, local officials said.
The officials, quoted by the Press Trust of India (PTI) agency, said 11 more flood-related deaths were reported from Bihar's inundated central district.
In one incident, five people drowned as their boat capsized in the swirling waters of the rain-swollen Gandak river.
PTI quoted officials as saying that most rivers such as the Bagmati, Kosi and Mahananda were rising menacingly in the impoverished state where 3,000 villages spanning 21 districts have been underwater since July.
Almost five million people have been affected by the floods in Bihar, the worst in the region in more than a decade.
State officials estimate that crops and property worth more than one billion rupees (23.5 million dollars) have been destroyed.
The floods began in late July after torrential monsoon rains, and the death toll from Bihar, Assam, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh has reached 359.
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