Thousands of cattle and livestock are believed to have died. The LWS India emergency relief team started moving into the affected areas wherever it is possible. Mushidabad district in the northern part of the state is the worst hit area as 5.6 million people are affected by the flood waters, which reached a level of 4m. LWS India points out that according to reports from the accessible areas of the district about 46,000 houses were totally destroyed by the flood waters and large areas of the district still remain inaccessible. In Birbhum district 3.5 million people are affected and 1.7 million houses were reportedly destroyed.
Army helicopters continue dropping food parcels to millions of marooned villagers.
Elsewhere soldiers use boats to rescue stranded flood victims and relief camps have been set up. Officials were quoted by newspapers as saying cases of enteric diseases have already been reported from some of the camps. Earlier in August when about 5 million people were affected by floods in the states of Assam, Bihar and West Bengal ACT issued an Appeal for assisting flood victims in India. LWS reports that in Assam and Bihar people in small numbers are beginning to return to their villages. They are returning to collapsed houses, silted fields and damaged crops.