Official sources said five persons were drowned when a country boat sank in the swollen Gandak river near Narborwa Kund in West Champaran district yesterday, taking the toll in the current wave of floods to 250.

State water resource department sources said the flood situation in Gopalganj further aggravated with Gandak submerging several villages after breaching its embankment.

Chief Minister Rabri Devi who yesterday undertook an aerial survey of the flood-hit areas in Gopalganj and Saran districts, she directed the state relief and rehabilitation department commissioner to take immediate steps to provide relief materials to the affected people.

Gandak continued to maintain tremendous pressure on its Pipra-Piprasi embankment at Thoriwhile Mahananda was swiftly eroding its embankment at Paharpur, the sources said.