The Associated Press

Tue, Sep 9, 2008 (4:03 a.m.)

Rescuers began searching for missing people in flood-devastated northern India after evacuating more than 1 million people whose homes and villages were under water, officials said Tuesday.

Authorities were able to move into previously inaccessible areas to look for survivors after the water levels dropped, helped by five days without rain, said state disaster management official Prataya Amrit.

"The main focus now is on the smooth functioning of relief camps and health centers, and looking for the missing people," Amrit told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

Hundreds of square miles of villages and farmland have been submerged in impoverished northern Bihar state since the Kosi River burst its banks on Aug. 18., shifting it's course hundreds of miles to the east and essentially transforming the area into a giant lake.

The Kosi has since cut a new channel and begun draining into the Ganges river that runs across the subcontinent.

Authorities have confirmed 42 deaths, but it is widely believed the final toll will be much higher.

So far, not even a rough estimate of the number of missing was available. Disaster officials are talking to refugees in the relief camps to assess how many people may still be lost in Bihar's five worst affected districts, Amrit said.

The majority of the more than 1 million people evacuated are staying with friends or relatives, but some 257,000 people have taken shelter in 313 state-run camps, Amrit said.

Despite warnings of continuing danger, some flood victims were scrambling to get back to their homes. Amrit said more than 30,000 evacuated villagers have returned to the flood zone.

Nitish Kumar, the state's top elected official, has said it will take at least six months to repair damaged embankments, homes, highways and village roads, so the relief camps will stay open for at least that long.

Government engineers were digging a new channel to correct the course of the Kosi River and plug the mile-long breach in the embankment. They also have started repairing roads to allow faster movement of relief supplies in the region, state government engineer K. R. Sinha said Monday.

The damage to nearly 1,250 miles of highways and 250 road bridges was estimated around $523 million, Sinha said.

Already, hundreds of cases of pneumonia, diarrhea and high fevers have been reported in relief camps. Doctors started immunization drives over the weekend to counter fears that waterborne diseases will spread as the number of camp residents grow.

The monsoon season, which runs from June to September every year, brings rain vital for the farmers of South Asia but also can cause massive destruction.