Flood waters, meanwhile, continued to submerge more villages following a breach in an embankment of Lakhendei river in Muzaffarpur Sunday.

Till Friday, the district administration and engineers had claimed that there was no threat to the embankment from the rising water level in the Bagmati river. According to official sources, the embankment was repaired and strengthened last year.

However, villagers claim they had informed officials about a six-inch wide hole in the embankment. But no move was initiated to repair it. Nitish Kumar has ordered a probe and promised stern action against erring officials.

Angry flood victims reportedly beat up a government engineer near the embankment at Tilaktajpur Sunday, according to a local daily.

Dozens of villages in Aurai and Katra blocks of Muzaffarpur district were also flooded after the Bagmati breached its embankment at three places Saturday. It was reported that several villages in Darbhanga district were also flooded.

Major rivers in north Bihar, especially the Kosi, Gandak, Budhi and Bagmati are in spate following heavy rains in their catchment areas in Nepal. The water levels of these rivers have been rising to dangerous levels for the last four to five days.

More than three million people were rendered homeless when the Kosi river breached its bank upstream in Nepal and changed course August 2008, flooding large tracts of land.