Twelve persons died in Bihar's Samastipur district as incessant rains, caused by a deep depression over the Bay of Bengal, continued to lash the state for the second day, affecting normal life. Some major trains have been cancelled.

Official reports said most of the areas in major towns like Muzaffarpur, Bettiah, Motihari, Purnia, Darbhanga and Sitamarhi remained water-logged.

Sources said the deaths had been caused by house collapse due to overnight heavy rain. Several long-distance trains originating from Kolkata, Varanasi, New Delhi and Muzaffarpur were cancelled.

While five persons were crushed to death when four thatched houses collapsed at village Mohammada, three others died in adjoining Gangapur village, sources said.

Residents faced difficulties in moving out of their houses, they said, adding several pumping sets were seen engaged in towns to drain out the water.

The low-lying areas of Patna, like Kankerbagh, Rajendra Nagar, Patliputra and Sri Krishnapuri, were in knee-to-waist-deep water.

All private and government schools remained closed following order of the district magistrate Dr B Rajendra.

Attendance in the offices of state and Central government was reported to be thin because of rains.

Patna recorded 53.8 mm rainfall on Tuesday, while Gaya, Bhagalpur and Purnia registered 98.0 mm, 49.3 mm and 29.4 mm rainfall respectively. Weatherman had forecast of moderate to heavy rains in most parts of the state.

According to a press release issued by the East Central Railway, 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.