The flood situation in Bihar further worsened on Friday with the swollen Burhi Gandak breaching its embankment in Begusarai where IAF personnel joined rescue operations of marooned people, officials said.

Altogether 77 people were reported to have been killed in the flood, which wreaked havoc in 18 districts mostly in North Bihar, due to heavy rains in the catchment areas of rivers originating from Nepal, they said.

Sanjeev Hans, District Magistrate of Begusarai, told PTI that Burhi Gandak breached its embankment in a stretch of 50 feet at Barihi village under Cheriabariarpur block late Thursday night, inundating over 200 villages and affecting over 65,000 people.

All those standing atop two houses were airlifted, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar told media persons after making an aerial survey of the flood-hit districts even as Hans apprehended that some people might have got swept away by the strong currents at Barihi alone. The exact number of the victims could not be ascertained immediately, he said.

Meanwhile, with 19 people losing their lives in two boat capsize incidents in Samastipur and East Champaran districts and five in Begusarai on Friday, the death toll in the current spell of flood has risen to 77, officials said.

The highest number of 15 deaths have been reported from Samastipur, followed by Muzaffarpur (13), Darbhanga (10), East Champaran (nine), Bhagalpur (seven), Madhubani (six), Begusarai and Sitamarhi (five each), Saharsa and West Champaran (three each) and Madhepura (one).

The number of those affected in the deluge in the state has crossed the one crore mark, according to a disaster management department communique.         

The districts affected by flood include Muzaffarpur, Sitamarhi, Saharsa, East Champaran, Supaul, Darbhanga, Patna, Bhagalpur, West Champaran, Katihar, Madhubani, Samastipur, Sheohar, Nalanda, Khagaria, Gopalganj, Madhepura and Begusarai.

Several major rivers, including Burhi Gandak, Bagmati, Adhvara, Kosi, Mahananda and Gandak, are flowing above the danger level at many places along their course.