One million trapped as Indian river shifts course

Terra Daily, via Agence France-Presse: More than one million people have been trapped by floodwaters in eastern India after heavy monsoon showers caused a major river to shift its course, a minister said Tuesday. Massive rains in Bihar state caused the Kosi river to swell, breach its banks and flow through a channel it had previously abandoned.

Water levels in the new river, about one mile (1.6 kilometres) across, are not receding, said Bihar Disaster Management Minister Nitish Mishra. The torrential water washed away villages and small dwellings in its path and trapped "not less than one million people in the widespread flooding," he said. Four northern districts of the state were the worst hit by the river's changed course….

This map of Bihar in India by Zakuragi, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License