Patna, Aug 6 - Hundreds of people in Bihar's Sitamarhi district, who fled their homes after the Bagmati river breached an embankment Saturday, have started to return after it was repaired, state Disaster Management Minister Devesh Chandra Thakur said Thursday.

'A large number of villagers, who took shelter on embankments, are returning to their homes after floodwaters started receding following plugging of the breach,' he said.

The swollen river breached over a 100-feet stretch of the embankment at Tilaktajpur under Runnisaidpur block in Sitamarhi Saturday.

Divisional Commissioner of Tirhut S.M. Raju said Thursday that plugging of the breach was completed on a war footing. After the embankment was repaired, the district authorities have been asked to intensify relief operations in the affected areas.

Nearly 200 villages were flooded and over 200,000 people affected after the river breached its embankment.