India's flood situation may ease

NEW DELHI, Sept. 1 (UPI) -- Flooding that has affected up to 3 million people in India's Bihar state was expected to ease with the slowing of the flow from Kosi River in Nepal.

Up to 16 districts in the densely populated eastern state have been flooded since the Aug. 18 river dam breach in Nepal, the Press Trust of India reported.

With the river flow from Nepal easing, the situation was expected to improve, the report said, adding the Himalayan state's government has agreed to help India in taming the river.

The BBC reported that among those affected, about 500,000 remained stranded in their villages as military rescue teams tried to reach them. The report said as the flood waters engulfed new areas, the relief camps were getting overcrowded and unsanitary.

At least 75 people have died so far in the flooding.

Reporting from one shelter area, CNN said food is becoming scarce for the hundreds of flood victims at the shelter.

"We ran for our lives and now we are dying here for food," a woman who arrived at the camp with 10 small children told CNN.

The report said the water flow after the dam breach was so strong the river changed course in Bihar, drowning thousands of villages.

In Nepal, the flooding had displaced at least 70,000 people.