Patna, Aug 3 - Rescue and relief operations were intensified Monday in Bihar's Sitamarhi district where thousands have been rendered homeless after the Bagmati river breached its embankment, flooding nearly 200 villages and affecting over 200,00 people.

Those stranded in villages had been living under the open skies without food and drinking water.

'Government officials and security force personnel along with the National Disaster Response Force stepped up rescue work in Sitamarhi following Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's order to help people in distress,' an official in the chief minister office said here.

According to officials, rescue teams of the Sashastra Seema Bal, Border Security Force and National Disaster Response Force have been deployed for relief and rescue operations.

'Till now nearly 400 people have been rescued by them and shifted to two relief camps set up by the government,' an official said.

The district administration has pressed nearly 100 boats into service to bring stranded people to safe places.

More than 25,000 people are taking shelter on embankments, rooftops and other high places but are yet to be provided relief materials.

'The embankments near Tilaktajpur are overcrowded with displaced people of villages submerged under floodwaters,' an official said.

The swollen river breached over a 100-feet stretch of the embankment at Tilaktajpur under Runnisaidpur block in Sitamarhi Saturday, inundating several villages and affecting over 200,000 people.