With the death toll rising to 117 and more than 1.5 million people displaced by the flooding which began June 27 and which has also hit Bangladesh and Nepal, Indian officials appealed to international agencies for assistance.

"We urge the Red Cross or any other aid agencies to send medical teams to assist our government health workers treat people suffering from various waterborne diseases like dysentery, gastroenteritis, jaundice and malaria," Assam state's health minister Bhumidhar Barman told AFP.

"If we dont take urgent steps now, the situation could assume epidemic proportions in the coming days and weeks."

An outbreak of malaria, Japanese encephalitis, and other water-borne diseases in flood-hit areas in Assam have claimed the lives of at least 75 people since the beginning of June.

More land was inundated overnight in Assam, which has borne the brunt of the flooding, when the Brahmaputra River broke through embankments, sending thousands of villagers fleeing to higher ground, an offical said.

"Hundreds of families are living on river embankments, roadways or any elevated ground while some refused to flee their stranded homes and managed to survive on rooftops," eastern Dhemaji district lawmaker Dilip Saikia said by telephone.

Police said a 68-year-old man drowned Wednesday in Dhemaji district when his boat upturned in the floodwaters.

In eastern Bihar state, a family of four drowned when they were swept away by a river at Narayanpur village in Madhubani district, 240 kilometersmiles) from the state capital Patna, a government official said.

A police spokesman, confirming the first flooding-related deaths in the state, said the bodies of two women, an eight-year-old boy and a man had been recovered from the floodwaters.

Bihar lawmaker Ram Kumar Yadav said the flood situation was worsening, with major rivers threatening to burst their banks and flood villages.

Heavy rains in the past few days have caused flooding and mudslides in parts of southeastern and eastern Nepal, with two deaths reported.

In Bangladesh, where waters have been spreading from the flooded north to the low-lying heart of the country, the situation has been stabilising in recent days, according to the Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre.

While no official death toll has been provided for Bangladesh as a whole, the number of reported dead in weather-related incidents is 67, with many killed in landslides in the southeastern hill tracts late last month.

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