A hut surrounded by floodwaters in East Midnapore’s Panskura. Telegraph picture

Calcutta, Sept. 26: The flood situation at some places improved today, though fresh areas went under water in Burdwan and Nadia and the toll moved up to 59.

Finance minister Asim Dasgupta said over 69 lakh people in 16 districts have been affected and 2.32 lakh houses damaged.

“In the last 24 hours there has been a little improvement, but the problem still persists. Because of less rainfall, we have been able to release less water from the reservoirs, ” he said.

The Iskcon temple complex at Nadia’s Mayapur, about 100 km from Calcutta, was inundated after the Bhagirathi flooded its banks last night. The entire Nabadwip town is under several feet of water.

New areas in Kalna and Katwa subdivisions of Burdwan were flooded following the discharge of about 1.40 lakh cusecs of water from the DVC’s Maithon and Panchet reservoirs.

The government today allocated a further Rs 10 crore for relief, taking the funds sanctioned to Rs 50 crore. The money to be given to those whose houses have been fully damaged has been doubled from Rs 2,000 to Rs 4,000. For partially damaged houses, owners will get Rs 2,000, instead of Rs 1,000.