By IANS
Patna : At least eleven people have died in Bihar as incessant rains continued to lash the state for the second day Wednesday.
Official sources said 9 deaths were caused in house collapses due to overnight heavy rain in Samastipur district. Two persons died in Muzaffarpur after a house collapsed.
Heavy rains, caused by a deep depression over the Bay of Bengal affected normal life in villages and towns in Samastipur and Muzaffarpur districts.
Some major trains have been cancelled and the national highway-31 jammed.
The district administration in Muzaffarpur and Darbhanga announced closure of all educational institutions including schools, colleges and universities till September 28.
The examinations in the colleges and universities were also postponed. The district administration Tuesday closed all schools in Patna following heavy rains in the last 48 hours.
The low-lying areas of Patna were submerged in knee-deep water.
Official sources said most of the areas in major towns like Muzaffarpur, Bettiah, Motihari, Purnia, Darbhanga and Sitamarhi remained waterlogged.
Power supply in these towns remains cut-off and telephone lines have been disrupted.
The roads connecting Muzaffarpur, Darbhanga, Samastipur, Muzaffarpur and Patna were badly damaged by heavy rain.
“The water level on these roads were flowing 3-4 feet above the ground Wednesday,” an official said.
Muzaffarpur district magistrate, Vinay Kumar said, “The unprecedented heavy rainfall in the last 24 hours had wrought havoc in Muzaffarpur.” Kumar said.
Officials in the district administration said Muzaffarpur had recorded 26 cm of rain since Tuesday.
Several long-distance trains originating from Kolkata, Varanasi, New Delhi and Muzaffarpur were cancelled. The national highway-31 was jammed and breached at several places. Hundreds of trucks and thousands of bus passengers have been stranded in the jam.
Patna recorded 53.8 mm rainfall on Tuesday, while Gaya, Bhagalpur and Purnia registered 98.0 mm, 49.3 mm and 29.4 mm of rainfall respectively.
Weathermen have forecast medium to heavy rain in most parts of the state.
According to an East Central Railway press release, several important trains, including Raxaul-Howrah Mithila Express, Muzaffarpur-Sealdah Tirhut Express, Jammu Tawi Howrah Express, New Delhi-Howrah Express and Varanasi-Howrah Bibhuti Express, have been cancelled.