Heavy rains in Himalayan foothills fuel flood fears in north Bihar

PATNA Dozens of villages in Sheohar and East Champaran in north Bihar have begun to face flood fears as the Bagmati river has begun inundating villages located in low-lying areas of the districts on Wednesday, officials said.

Traffic on Sheohar-Motihar state highway (SH54) has been hit as water has start flowing over it near Narkatia village of Sheohar, said an official of water resources department (WRD), claiming that efforts are on to plug the leakage in an under construction safety embankment near Belwa village.

All major rivers originating from Nepal have turned in spate, following heavy rains in the foothills of Himalaya in the past 24 hours.

Local weather officials said a red alert (for heavy rainfall) has been issued for districts like Purnia and Araria, while orange alert has been issued for districts like Madhupura, Katihar, Patna, Buxar, Gopalganj, Buxar and Bhojpur.

Authorities in West Chmaparan district have already issued warning to the people settled near embankments of Gandak river to move to safer places, following heavy discharge of water from Valmikinagar barrage. “About 2.64 lakh cusecs of water was released from the barrage on Wednesday, which might go up if the incessant rains continued in catchment areas of the river,” a press note of the WRD said.

Discharge of water in Kosi river was also maintaining a rising trend at Birpur barrange, posing fresh threat to wash away houses located on its banks.

Reports said about 2.02 lakh cusecs of water was being released from the barrage at 2 pm.

Bagmati has already crossed the red mark all through its course, except Hayaghat in Darbhanga. The river was flowing about 1.52 metres above the danger level at Kataunjha in Muzaffarpur.

The Gandak has jumped the danger level at Dumaria Ghat by 36 cm and Kosi at Baltara by 18 cm.

River Ganga is also approaching the danger mark quite fast at Gandhi Ghat in Patna.

All the rivers are maintaining the rising trend at different locations in their courses.

WRD officials, meanwhile, have stepped up the vigil on embankments of the north Bihar rivers and carrying out restoration work wherever they notice any leakage or soil erosion on the embankments.