Some major rivers recorded sharp rise Friday, the Teesta was about to touch the red mark on the day, in the northern part of the country due to moderate-to-heavy rain and onrush of hilly water from the upper catchments.
People living in low-lying areas of Nilphamari and Lalmonirhat districts are taking preparations for moving out to safety following the rise in the water level of the Teesta.
Floods have ravaged the states of West Bengal, Orissa, Jharkhand, Uttar Padesh and Assam.
BSS adds: All major rivers and their tributaries recorded further rise due to moderate-to-heavy rainfalls and onrush of hilly water from upper catchments during the past 24 hours till Friday afternoon in Greater Rangpur, officials said.
However, there is no flood-like situation so far in Kurigram, Rangpur, Lalmonirhat, Nilphamari and Gaibandha where the rivers swelled but were flowing one metre to two metres below their respective danger marks at all points, executive engineers in Water Development Board (WDB) said.
Executive Engineer of Teesta Barrage Project (TBP) Atikur Rahman said in the afternoon that the water level of the Teesta at Gojaldoba Barrage point in India has been continuously rising and it may deteriorate the situation downstream.
As a result, the Teesta might cross its danger mark at Dalia point under Dimla upazila in Nilphamari district, he said.
Fearing possible deterioration of the situation in the Teesta, people in the low-lying areas in Dimla, Domar and Jaldhaka upazilas of Nilphamari and Hatibandha, Kaliganj and Aditmari upazilas in Lalmonirhat are getting ready to face the possible ordeal, local sources said.
The Teesta was flowing only 15 cm below its danger mark at Dalia point at 6:00 am Thursday and it was flowing 131 cm below the danger mark at the same point at 6am in the morning.
Due to increased onrush of water from the upper catchments, the river's water level saw a sharp rise by 108 cm during the past nine hours since 6 am Friday and was flowing at 52.02m, which was only 23 cm below the danger mark, officials said.
WDB sources said the Brahmaputra rose sharply by 10 cm during the past 24 hours and was flowing at 22.33 m, which was 1.67m below its danger mark, at Chilmari point in Kurigram at 6:00 am Friday.
The Teesta saw a slight fall of 1 cm during the past 24 hours and was flowing at 28.62m at Kawnia point in Rangpur at 6 in the morning, which was 1.38m below the danger mark.
The Dharla marked a rise by 9cm during the period and was flowing at 24.75m at Kurigram point at 6 in the morning, which was 1.75m below its danger mark.
The Dudhkumar rose by 12cm during the period and was flowing at 24.99m at 6 in the morning at Noonkhawa point in Kurigram, which was 1.8m below its danger mark.
The Jamuna rose further at all points in Gaibandha, Jamalpur, Bogra and Sirajganj districts during the past 24 hours and was flowing well below its danger marks at all points at 6:00 am Friday.
Water levels of the Padma, Mohananda, Kartoa, Choto Jamuna, Atrai, Ghaghot, Saniyazan, Punarbhoba, Tulshiganga, Jinjiram, Sonabhori and all other tributaries in the northern districts rose but were flowing much below their respective danger marks in the morning, sources said.
A Reuters report says, flood victims in eastern India took refuge on treetops as monsoon rains swamped homes and continued to spread misery among millions.
The number of people who have died in heavy flooding this week in east and north-east India following torrential rain has now risen above 50.
Officials say nearly eight million people have been affected by the floods with two million of them now homeless.
Thousands of villages have been submerged as rivers burst their banks.
For the third successive day, Indian air force helicopters have been dropping food and drinking water, clothes and blankets to the victims.
The floods have ravaged the states of West Bengal, Orissa, Jharkhand , Uttar Pradesh and Assam.
West Bengal has been the worst hit. The state's chief minister Buddhadev Bhattacharya visited the southern region of Midnapore.
He told journalists that at least 25 people had died in the floods in West Bengal. He said more than four million people had been affected by the floods there, half a million of whom had taken shelter in nearly 900 makeshift camps.
Twenty-three people have died in the north-eastern state of Assam. The latest was a woman buried under a landslide in the state's northern district of Lakhimpur.
Lakhimpur and the neighbouring district of Dhemaji remained cut off after large parts of a highway was swept away by the mighty Brahmaputra river.
Six people have been swept away by the floods in Orissa.
Train services between West Bengal and Orissa have been disrupted and railway officials say it will take more than a week to repair them.
The whole region has experienced incessant rains this week following a severe depression in the Bay of Bengal.
"I have seen hundreds of people living on trees and pleading to be rescued," Jayanarayan Mohanty, a community leader, said.
In Jamshedpur, three alligators and a crocodile slipped out of a zoo after heavy rains flooded the park, officials said.
The crocodile was later caught, but a park official said the missing alligators were a danger to the people.
Heavy monsoon rains also had an impact on coal mining in Jharkhand, with production at the state-run Central Coalfield Limited down by over 50 percent.
Although the army has been called out to provide aid, people in many villages were angry at delays.
"We have not got any relief so far, we are homeless and starving for the past three days," said Usharani Manna, a flood victim in West Midnapore district.
Prices of essential commodities have shot up across the region as flooding blocked many highways and trucks carrying food and medicine were stranded.
