Patna, Jul 15 (IANS): From villages to cities, entire north Bihar is facing a serious flood situation, forcing people to abandon their inundated houses to seek shelter at safer places, even as water levels of rivers in the area continues to rise.

The worst-affected districts are Araria, Kishanganj, Supaul, Darbhanga, Sheohar, Sitamarhi, East Champaran, Madhubani, and Muzaffarpur. According to official reports, over 18 lakh people in 352 panchayat areas of 55 blocks have been affected.

Meanwhile, rivers flowing in from neighbouring Nepal are overflowing.

State Water Resources Department spokesman Arvind Kumar Singh on Monday said the Bagmati, Kamala and Mahanandra rivers are flowing over the danger mark at various places, while the flow of the Kosi, at Veerpur Barrage, had increased from 1.94 lakh cusecs at 6 a.m. to 2.01 lakh cusecs at 8 a.m. and that of the Gandak had also risen.

Meanwhile, the Disaster Management Department said relief and rescue operations were continuing in the flood-affected areas. A total of 19 companies of the National Disaster Response Force and the State Disaster Response Force have been deployed in the area.

An official said that 152 relief camps have been set up, and are housing over 45,000 people.

The threat of flood looms large in two areas of Muzaffarpur, where water has entered over 2,000 houses. Houses have also been water-logged in East Champaran.

In Sitamarhi, which has also been badly hit, a group of affected people said that they are yet to see any relief and rescue measures in the area.

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had carried out an aerial survey of the region on Sunday, and had instructed people to speed up the relief and rehabilitation measures.