BETTIAH, Sept. 30 -- A vast chunk of villagers dwelling in the low-lying villages along the Gandak river in Nautan and Bairiya block of West Champaran district were forced to spend a night in the open after the turbulent river breached a stretch of the Champaran embankment for 5-meter wide at Phuliyakhad village in Bairiya block on Monday midnight, forcing families to flee with children, livestock and whatever belongings they could carry as floodwaters inundated their homes. Video footage from the Champaran embankment showed residents of several villages across two blocks of West Champaran huddled on it with their families, many of them women, and their livestock, ruing at their own helplessness with eyes brimming with tears. Mothers were seen holding babies in their laps wrapped in cloth, while elderly men were seen staring vacantly towards their villages submerged by the water from the Gandak river at Mangalpur Gudariya village in Nautan block. Villagers took to the precautionary measures as soon as the water level overtopped and started gushing into villages. "We came here around 8pm when our villagers raised alarm about the possible collapse of the embankment. Water had overtopped the embankment at several places and was gushing into villages. Our worst dismay came true after we left our houses as a portion of embankment breached. By God's grace our lives were saved but everything else has squandered now," said Rabri Devi, a resident of Mangalpur Gudariya. HT attempted to speak to some flood victims camping on the Champaran embankment especially women, but they struggled hard. "Jo huwa achcha nahi huwa. Our destiny has played a cruel and crude joke with us," said a woman. Another woman, who had remained silent, tried to speak but broke down in fitful bouts of weeping. A third woman, speaking softly from behind others, struggled to keep her voice steady. "We have somehow managed to feed ourselves and our children. But our cattle are hungry and have nothing to eat," she said. What started as a desperate attempt to leave the villages to escape from water inundation, the Champaran embankment, roads and other elevated stretches had turned into makeshift shelters for families at the break of dawn on Tuesday. Families were seen gathered along roadsides and under trees at several places in Nautan and Bairiya blocks. "Now a bleak future really stares at us. We are uncertain when or whether we would return home," said Abhishek Shrivastava, a resident of Mangalpur Gudariya village. "We are afraid it may not cause a collapse at some other places," said Santosh Dubey, another villager, echoing the coming the gravest worry of the villagers. The worst affected are the people from panchayats of Shivrajpur, Mangalpur Gudariya, Phuliyakhand, Shyampur Kotraha in the two blocks, said officials. Officials, however, could not specify the exact number of affected people in two blocks of Nautan and Bairiya immediately. "Relief material and other necessary assistance are being provided to the affected people and the situation is being closely monitored. A relief camp has been set up at a high school in Bathana village following the embankment breach in Bairiya, while 23 community kitchens are operational across West Champaran, including in Nautan and Bairiya," said Taranjot Singh, district magistrate (DM), West Champaran, adding that water levels had receded in other areas, particularly in Bagaha subdivision. However, about 50 km southwest (SW) from Nautan, Nainaha Dhala on Dhanaha-Ratwal road in Bagaha subdivision presents a poignant scene as circumstances arising out of heavy and continuous discharge of water from forced villagers of Sisayi and Chiurahi panchayats to take shelter on roads for third day on a stretch. Video footage emerging from the spot showed the woman sitting huddled with children in their laps and cattle and goats stood tethered. Below, water from the Gandak is seen spread across fields, lanes and courtyards that had been part of their lives only days before....