Officials struggling to help thousands affected by floods in eastern India

Patna: Rescue efforts to aid the millions of people affected by fierce flooding in eastern India have been hampered by heavy rain and bad weather, officials said on Sunday.

Authorities are struggling to provide the victims with sufficient food and aid, and have said more boats and rescuers will be needed to help the hundreds of thousands of people still marooned in remote villages.

"I can't say specifically how many people are still stranded in floods," Nitish Mishra, the state's disaster management minister said on Sunday.

"But their numbers are in lakhs (hundreds of thousands) and we require more resources, more boats, army and rescue efforts to evacuate them."

More than 1,000 people in South Asia have died since the monsoon began in June.

In Bihar, the toll rose to 90 on Sunday with five more people drowning overnight in separate districts.

At least 3 million people have been displaced and those figures could rise as heavy rain continued, officials said, adding that more than 350,000 people have been taken to safety over the past 11 days.