A bad dream, that was what Ram Rati of Pichhona village thought when she heard the waves around 2 am on August 23. When she woke up, she found that water had reached her village and started seeping into her house. The bundh on the Rapti had breached.

When Rati and her family began running, they could not pick up anything except a few utensils and a bundle of clothes. ``We had stocked food grains to last us the year. I don't know how we will survive,'' she says.

The story is similar for over two lakh people living in 1,579 villages in Gorakhpur which are now under six-to-eight feet of water. The district administration is not sure of the existence of 22 villages. ``We could not locate these village in aerial surveys,''says District Magistrate Arun Singhal.

As an Army motor-boat with relief material for flood victims reaches Mahimath, a village 15 km from Gorakhpur town, the villagers swim to collect food packets. ``This is our only lifeline,'' says Lal Chand, a villager. Half of his village is under water.

The boat moves on to Mirzapur where people shout from the rooftops for help. ``We have to move from house to house because there are people who can't swim and because of the 10-feet deep flood-water separating their houses, they can't even seek help from neighbours,'' says Major Mukul Sisodia, who is coordinating relief and rescue work.

In some villages, Air Force helicopters are dropping food packets. They have been of little help in providing relief to marooned villagers as the wind makes it difficult for them to drop food packets exactly on the rooftops.

``I haven't eaten anything for the past two days,'' says Khilauna Devi of Harijan Basti near Mirzapur village. Army jawans give her four packets and tell herbefore leaving that they wouldn't be able to come at least for the next two days as they have to look after other villages as well.

The rail link, breached at 15 places, was restored by employing about 2,000 labourers two days ago. But Gorakhpur still remains inaccessible by road. Half the city is still under water. ``We can't stay in our houses, they are half submerged -- under water and sewage,'' says S P Tripathi, a teacher of Gorakhpur University who has shifted to a local hotel with his family.

Almost the entire Eastern UP is reeling under the fury of the Rapti, Ghaghra, Gandak and Budhi Gandak rivers. Parts of at least 30 bundhs have been swept away in flood waters while breaches were reported in about 90 other bundhs.

``It's the worst flood of the century in Uttar Pradesh,'' says the State Relief Minister, Ashok Yadav. ``The rainfall received by the State during past one-and-a-half months is much more than the average rainfall during the entire monsoon season,'' he says.

People allege that theGovernment has not been repairing the dams which has led to the breaches. Ram Lal, superintending engineer of Irrigation Department, however, denies this. ``Almost all dams and bundhs in the division had been repaired by July at a cost of Rs 72.07 lakh. But we had demanded a grant of Rs 500 lakh,'' he says.

The Administration also fears epidemics due to lack of drinking water and poor sanitary conditions in the affected villages. ``Ground-water level has risen so much that contaminated water has been flowing out of hand-pumps,'' says Hari Lal of Mahimath village.

Efforts being made to restore the road link were washed away in today's rainfall. About 10 cm rain also hampered the relief and rescue work being undertaken by the Government and NGOs.

``Roads can't be repaired until the breaches in embankment are plugged to reduce water current'' says Singhal. The district administration has sought help from the Army and Central Public Works Department (CPWD) to build bridges on highways.

However, theadministration has been unable to provide relief to villages which lie in the changed course of the river, because fast current makes rowing almost impossible.