Rising rivers threaten more misery in India

PATNA, India (Reuters) - Rising rivers in eastern India swamped new areas and destroyed homes on Tuesday affecting more than two million people, as frustrated villagers beat up officials and others remained glued to weather radio bulletins.

The Koshi river in the eastern state of Bihar has broken its mud embankments in several regions, swamped farmlands and destroyed homes in one of India's poorest regions.

The river broke a dam in neighbouring Nepal, worsening the floods caused by heavy monsoon rain, Bihar officials said.

Rains have killed more than 1,000 people in South Asia since the monsoon rains began in June, mainly in India's states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh but also in Nepal and Bangladesh.

In Bihar, thousands have taken refuge on embankments and on roads and mounds in the state.

Locals in the state call the Koshi the "sorrow of Bihar" for its regular floods and its ability to quickly change course.

"The Koshi river has changed its course and nearly 20-25 lakh (two and half million) people of the areas have been affected," Nitish Kumar, the chief minister of the state said after aerial survey of the flood situation.

Some experts blame the floods on heavier monsoon rains caused by global warming.

Last year, floods in eastern India and Bangladesh killed around 2,000 people. Millions of people were affected by floods and officials fear that similar disasters would become more frequent amid global climate change.

Other experts blame government ineptitude in some of the poorest regions of India, with states not spending enough money on disaster prevention efforts.

In India's most populous northern state of Uttar Pradesh, the toll from this year's floods rose to 721, with four more deaths reported overnight, officials said.

Indian authorities in a statement released in New Delhi warned of more rains in eastern India, including Bihar, with heavy falls in the next 4-5 days.

Angry villagers in Bihar beat up government officials and a politician in flood-hit Araria district near the Nepal border, when they arrived on a fact-finding trip.

"Their anger is natural since they never thought that floods would leave them stranded in this way and they were not prepared to face the floods which happened suddenly," Suraj Kumar Sinha, a senior state official, said by telephone on Tuesday.

India's annual monsoon hits on June 1 and retreats in September. It is vital for the irrigation of farmland and promoting economic growth in a nation heavily reliant on agriculture.

But it leaves in its wake massive destruction, killing hundreds of people, destroying homes, crops, roads and bridges every year, but in recent years the disasters appear to be on a bigger scale.

Some people also refused to leave their homes in Bihar and turned rescuers in boats away, officials said.

Rising rivers have also swamped 36,400 hectares (89,943 acres) of cropland in the state, as wheat and paddy fields were lying under water.

Seven villages were swept away by the Koshi river in southeast Nepal, where the river Koshi broke through the dam, which was built by India to protect Bihar.

Nepali officials blame India for failing to carry out necessary repair and maintenance of the dam under an agreement between the two countries.

At least 40,300 people in Nepal have been affected by the flooding and authorities said there could be more breaches, unless repaired quickly.

(Additional reporting by Gopal Sharma, Sharat Pradhan and Biman Mukherjee; Writing by Bappa Majumdar; Editing by Alistair Scrutton)