The district administrator's office in Madhubani town, Bihar state, bore the brunt of public anger, while there was also looting and violence in the flood-hit districts of Muzaffarpur, Samastipur, Kishanganj and Purnia.

"We're trapped in our college hostel and are falling ill due to the filthy conditions. Even snakes and scorpions have been pushed into rooms by the floods," said B. Mishra, a student at a medical college in Bihar's worst-hit Darbhanga district.

The floods have killed at least 237 people nationwide since the rains began in mid-June and affected 11 million Indians, officials say.

Mishra's misery was echoed by the state's impoverished farmers.

"I've no drinking water to give my children. My cattle have died, I've lost all my crops. What will happen to my family if the government doesn't help us?" said Muzaffarpur farmer Buddhu Mahto.

The Hindi language Dainik Jagran newspaper reported Wednesday that destitute villagers in the Darbhanga district were scavenging for scraps of food and were living off snails.

It said helicopters had been unable to airdrop relief aid or food packets to some of Bihar's worst-hit areas because of difficult weather conditions.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has pledged to set up a panel for a lasting solution to floods, which every year ravage the nation's east and northeast.

"The time has come to take a holistic view to find a permanent, medium- and long-term solution to the flood problem in India," he said Tuesday in northeastern Assam state's main city of Guwahati after an hour-long aerial survey of floods.

The Assam government describes the floods as the worst in 25 years and has demanded 21.56 billion rupees (479 million dollars) in federal aid.

The floods have wreaked havoc in the state, with 8,500 villages washed away, some 600 endangered animals drowned in three wildlife parks and 2,466 kilometres (1,528 miles) of highways damaged, officials say

"We have reports of rhinos, wild buffaloes, elephants, wild boars and deer straying into villages for shelter as wildlife parks are under water," Assam Forest Minister Pradyut Bordoloi told AFP.

Air Force helicopters, meanwhile, plucked to safety marooned women and children from some of the worst-hit villages where reports of water-borne diseases and snake bites were surfacing.

"The floods, rains and low temperatures (also) have stunted the growth of tea... the loss in production is estimated at 30 to 35 million kilograms," Dhiraj Kakoty, secretary of the Indian Tea Association, said.

India is the world's largest tea producer with Assam accounting for 55 percent of the total 864 million kilograms (1,900 million pounds) produced each year.

At least 100 of Assam's estimated 800 tea gardens are submerged.

Tea growers say the floods could not have come at a worse time, as the 1.5- billion-dollar Indian tea industry is already in crisis with prices plunging and a slump in exports.

TERRA.WIRE